Fam Jam
by MyOTPstolemylife
Summary: Finn, Poe, Rey, and Ben are all roommates in college. They have many adventures together, including but not limited to, midnight grocery store antics, horror movie night, and video game tournaments. Slow-burn Reylo and established FinnRose.
1. Chapter 1: Midnight Grocery Run

**Me, acting like I don't have three other stories to update: Hey! How about I write a drabble based off some prompts I found on Tumblr!111!11**

 **Sigh.**

 **_STAR_**

 **_WARS_**

"GUYS!" Rey shouted, head buried in the pantry of the small house. "It's an emergency!"

Finn was the first one to reach the kitchen, baseball bat in hand, ready to strike. Poe followed closely behind, wrapped in a terrycloth robe, his hair lathered and bubbly with shampoo. Ben was the last to make an appearance in the crowded room. He eyed his roommates, clearly wondering what had possessed him to move in with them.

"What's wrong?" Finn panted, right as Poe said, "I got out of the shower for this. It better be important." Ben chimed in with, "What the hell is wrong with you guys?"

Finn and Poe glared at Ben as Rey spoke. "We are all out of pizza pockets and instant noodles. We have absolutely no food here."

"Are you sure? We just stocked up last week," Finn pushed past her to survey the interior of the pantry. It was bare, aside from two cans of tomato soup and a package of Poe's gluten-free egg noodles.

"Unbelievable." Poe muttered, shaking his head as he stalked back to the bathroom to finish his shower. "We'll have to have a follow-up discussion about the definition of the word 'emergency'."

Ben covered his face with his hands as he watched Finn and Rey argue about who consumed the most food. "You guys are so _weird,"_

Rey scoffed as she looked over at him. " _We're_ the weird ones? We aren't the ones who dress in all black and have an unhealthy addiction to black coffee and Funions."

"I'm not the one who ate all the food," He countered, raising a brow.

Rey's face flushed as Finn gaped at her, stuttering to find the words to defend herself. _Ha,_ Ben thought. _Busted._

Several minutes later, Poe emerged from the bathroom, dressed in a gray sweater and jeans this time. His coffee brown hair was bubble-free. Finn, Rey, and Ben were all locked in a heated argument.

"Guys," He called. They continued to yell at each other, completely oblivious to his presence. "Guys!"

They all looked up in unison, startled. Poe sighed. "Stop bickering like 5-year-olds and get in the car. We're going shopping, losers."

_SW_

They all piled in Poe's 1965 Mustang, Poe driving, Finn riding shotgun, Rey seated behind him, and Ben squashed in behind Poe.

Finn and Poe chatted throughout the entire trip, the radio blasting, but all was silent in the backseat.

Rey and Ben never really got along, hadn't for months, so it was a shock to her when Poe invited him to be the fourth roommate when they rented their little cottage-style house a year and a half ago. She had known Finn for years, the two of them had grown up together in the same foster house from the age of fourteen to eighteen, when they both went off to Alderaan University. They had met Poe in one of their classes, Rey took Advanced Mechanics with him and Finn had met him through a freak accident in the chemistry lab.

Poe and Ben had apparently been friends for years, their parents having been close their entire childhood. Ben's mother, Leia Organa, was a dean at the school, and his uncle, Luke Skywalker, taught Philosophy 101. Rey hadn't known (and wouldn't have guessed) the relation, but Poe told her one day in the mess hall when Luke had pulled Ben aside and began chastising him rather animatedly.

Rey didn't exactly have a reason to dislike Ben as much as she did, but she just…did. He was grumpy and gloomy and entitled and had this air of superiority about him. He lost his temper a little too easily and had a knack for perfectionism.

The first time they met, Rey had been a terrified freshman, separated from Finn, totally lost in the hallways of the huge college. She checked her class schedule and looked around for the correct room. Ben was a seasoned junior, arm full of textbooks, a pair of glasses perched on his nose, poring over something on his phone. Rey didn't look up from her schedule and he didn't look up from his phone and they collided head-on.

"Jeez!" Rey grunted as she was knocked onto the ground. The flurry of loose papers fluttered down around her. She glanced up and saw a boy also laying on the ground, presumably the one who ran into her. "Are you okay?" She sat up and started collecting the sheets nearest to her. The boy groaned and clutched his nose, struggling to his feet. She stood as well. "Oh, no! Your nose—"

"Good grief!" He muttered, staunching the blood flowing from his nose with a shirtsleeve. "Watch where you're going, will you?"

Rey took a step back. "Me? Watch where _I'm_ going? You're the one who ran into me!"

"Yeah, right, okay, whatever." He bent down and scooped up his binders and what was left of the paper. Rey shoved the stacks she had collected into his chest. "Just get your nose out of your schedule, freshie."

"What is this, high school?" Rey rolled her eyes and adjusted her book bag before turning and storming away. "Nice meeting you, asshole!"

And here they were now, roommates, seated next to each other in the back of Poe's little sedan. Fate had a funny way of doing things.

Poe pulled into the 24-hour Safeway and slowed to a stop in a parking space. Turning off the car, he turned to face the occupants of the backseat. "Okay, this is our mission. Buy enough food to feed Rey for more than one week."

Rey rolled her eyes and opened her door while the others did the same. "I don't eat that much," she protested as they made their way into the store.

They all turned to look at her. "Yes, you do." They replied in unison.

She huffed and stalked off to find a shopping cart.

"I call dibs on sitting in the cart!" Finn hollered as Rey reappeared, pushing a buggy.

"Uh, no way." Poe interjected, crossing his arms. "You sat in there last time."

"No, you did!"

Rey turned her attention to Ben, slightly exasperated. "Do _you_ want to sit in the cart?" she looked back at her two friends, still squabbling.

Ben shrugged and made his way over to her. "Anything to make them shut up." he climbed into the cart and sat down, clearing his throat to catch the boys attention. They both groaned at the sight of him.

"Not fair!" Finn mumbled. Poe wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"It's alright buddy. Sometimes, we get outsmarted." He tossed a glance at Rey and Ben, who were heading toward the frozen food aisle. "Maybe a little bonding will be good for them."

_SW_

"No, Ben, we are not buying vegan tofu pizza rolls!" Rey chided, throwing a bag of frozen fruit at his chest. "You really are disgusting."

"I am not," he retorted, hurling the bag back at her. "I'm health-conscious."

"You're _heavy,_ " she grunted, struggling to push the cart down the aisle towards the pizzas and frozen meals.

Ben crossed his arms and scowled. "You invited me to sit here. Don't insult me."

She laughed at his comment and made her way to the cooler. Reaching in, she grabbed a stack of pizza boxes. She tossed them in the cart (mostly on top of Ben), and said, "I made sure to get a vegan one for you."

He smirked.

They continued through the store, amassing hordes of food. Pizza rolls and ice cream for Rey, (vegan) TV dinners and chips for Ben, gluten-free instant noodles and boxed stuffing for Poe, and fresh fruit and granola for Finn. He ate the healthiest out of the four.

Rey and Ben found their roommates halfway through the trip. They got a cart of their own, Poe sitting and Finn pushing, and it, too, was brimming with snacks and junk food.

They shoved the two carts up to the check-out; the thirty-something cashier didn't even blink an eye at the sight of two college kids sitting in buggies surrounded by mountains of food.

Poe and Rey started unloading the carts and placing the items on the belt. As Finn handed her a box of vanilla wafers, Rey gasped.

"Finn, how did you know I liked those?" She asked, pointing to a box of organic strawberry macaroons.

He glanced up at her, and then at Ben, whose cart was parked beside his. "Ben told me. He said that you said you liked them but never could find them anywhere."

Rey looked at Ben, who was trying and failing to hide a blush. Her gaze softened a bit. She vaguely remembered mentioning her favorite snack to him months ago, but she never in a million years would have thought he'd remember it. A small smile appeared on her lips. "Thanks, Ben." He shrugged.

"That'll be 274.37, please," the cashier droned.

"Jeez! You people are animals!" Poe cried, swiping his card.

Finn and Rey beamed. "You know you love us,"

Poe rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Yeah, I do, but you're eating this family out of house and home!" Even Ben cracked a grin at his comment.

They chorused a thank-you-goodbye to the checker and headed out the door, carrying 30+ sacks of groceries between them. After wedging the bags into the trunk, backseat, and front seat, Finn picked out a smooth jazz playlist on Pandora and they rode home in silence, the soft music filling the air.

 **A/N: so the ending isn't my favorite, it's a little rushed, but I've been suffering from writers block all month so I'm trying to get new content out but here we are.**

 **Well I hope you enjoy, please leave a review!**


	2. Chapter 2: Shopping Trip

"Poe Dameron! I am going to kill you!"

Rey, Ben, and Poe all stuck their heads out the doorways of their respective bedrooms. Finn stormed down the hallway, clutching a pink shirt. He stopped before Poe and shoved the item in his face.

"Poe, have we not lived together for almost two years now? And you still don't know how to separate the freaking darks from the freaking lights when you do laundry? This is an Armani dress shirt, man!" He slugged his roommate in the shoulder, sighing. "I was gonna wear it on my date with Rose tonight,"

Poe stammered apologetically. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I really didn't mean to ruin it. Maybe we could like bleach it? Or something—"

"You don't just bleach Armani!"

Rey breezed down the hallway, interrupting the two. She snatched both their hands and whisked them toward the front door. "Time to go shopping!" She chimed in a sing-song voice. "Oh, it's been ages since I've been to the mall!" she released her two friends and turned back to see Ben, who was watching the scene unfold. "Hey, Solo! Aren't you coming?"

"Ah, no, I'm okay. I, uh, I got some stuff I gotta work on," He gestured over his shoulder to his room, but Rey just rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm.

"Come on, you are such a hermit! You need to get out more! Wait!" She spun around to face him, nearly causing him to slam into her. "Maybe if we got you some new clothes, got you out of the trademark funeral black—ooh, dare I say it? Maybe we could get you a date!" Ben rolled his eyes and blushed, but allowed himself to be dragged out to the car by his unapologetically cheerful roommate.

_SW_

"No, no, no!" Rey cried, shielding her eyes behind her hands. "It's all wrong! My eyes have been burned! The horror! The horror!"

"Rey," Finn grumbled. "This is the seventeenth shirt I've tried on! It's not that bad," He studied himself in mirror. "I mean, I don't think it is."

"Nah, buddy, you look great!" Poe called from across the store, where he was chatting with an attractive sales clerk.

Sighing, Rey stood and shook her head. "Finn, its beige. It's not cream, or ivory. Those, I could handle. But beige? You look like a door mat, no offense."

Finn scoffed and returned to his dressing room.

Ben groaned from his reclined position on a couch, covering his face with a striped pillow. "Why are you so damn picky?"

"I am not picky, Ben Solo, I am particular. Don't forget, I once took a fashion study as an elective last year."

"How could I? The nightmares still haunt me."

She scowled, turning back to a rack of silk shirts. "You act as thought I dressed the three of you like clowns,"

"You did," her roommates chimed from their various positions throughout the store.

"Or at least, pretty close," Finn quipped, emerging from his changing room. "All ready to go?"

Ben stood as Poe made his way back to the group. "Did you get her number?" Rey questioned as they left the store.

Poe put a hand over his heart with a mock gasp. "You think that's all I was talking to her for? I can't have a meaningful conversation with a vastly complex person such as Savannah from the Armani store?" he grinned and produced a slip of paper. "Heck yeah I got her number."

"So, Finn. What are you gonna wear tonight for your date?" Rey asked as they navigated through the sea of people in the food court as the four of them headed for the exits. "You know, since I vetoed everything you tried on."

He shrugged as he dodged a young woman carrying a screaming child. "I don't know, probably the shirt Poe ruined. It was stained through and through, so it's completely pink. Actually, I'd say the color is looks quite good on me." He grinned as Rey bumped his shoulder with her own.

They were almost to the front doors when something in her peripheral vision caught her attention. "Guys!" She gasped. "Look!" she pointed to a small photo booth secluded in the corner of the food court.

"That doesn't look sketchy at all," Ben muttered as Rey turned to them in excitement.

"We have to take a picture!" She grabbed Ben's hand and pulled him along with her, knowing he'd be the only one to object. Finn and Poe followed closely behind.

Poe surveyed the tiny booth, crossing his arms. "It'll be a bit of a squeeze but I think we'll all fit," He rubbed his hands together and flung the curtain hanging over the door aside. "Okay, Ben, you sit on the far side, Rey, try to fit beside him, Finn, you next, and then me."

They clambered into the little box, and it was a tighter fit then they expected. "So, I guess I'm sitting on your lap then, huh?" Finn jabbed Poe in the ribs as he sat down on his leg. The two glanced over at Ben and Rey, who were in the same situation. Rey seemed totally oblivious to the predicament, but a bright blush was slowly creeping over Ben's face.

Finn and Poe grinned at each other as Rey pressed the shutter button.

"Cheese!"

_SW_

They returned home, empty-handed but for a single strip of four photos. The first one was silly, with peace signs and bunny ears all around. The second was a bit more serious, all normal smiles save for Poe, who had to stick his tongue out at the last second. The third was another goofy one, Rey and Finn formed a heart with their hands while Poe and Ben did the same. (Ben ordered them to never speak of it again.) The last showed Finn and Poe gesturing animatedly, Rey laughing, and Ben gazing at her, a look of wonder on his face.

A/N: Was that ending too strong to just be "hints of reylo"? haha sucker too bad.


	3. Chapter 3: The Shining

The bane of one's existence; the light of another's.

There are those who fear them, and those who revere them.

(Or the one where Rey and Finn love horror movies. Poe and Ben? Not so much.)

The loud slamming of the cupboard door punctuated the end of his sentence. "No, I'm not doing it. Not again." Ben tossed a spoon onto the table as he turned to search the fridge for milk.

"Please, Ben? Please?" Rey pleaded, popping a piece of bread into the toaster before pivoting to look at him. "It'll totally suck without you."

He tilted his head back and groaned. He purposely avoided looking at her as he poured the milk into his bowl of cereal before putting it back in the fridge. "Nope. You can't even beg me."

"Ben. Ben. Ben. Ben. Ben." She chanted, sitting across from him at the table. "Please. Please. Please. Please."

He put his hands over his ears, humming. "La la la, I can't hear you!" he closed his eyes and continued to ignore her.

Rey smacked her hand down on the table, startling him. "Damn it, Ben, could you at least hear me out before pretending I don't exist?"

He shoveled a spoonful of Cheerio's into his mouth before looking at her. "It's kind of hard to take you seriously when you look like that," he used his spoon to gesture at her attire.

Rey reached up and touched the curlers in her hair a bit self-consciously. "What, you don't like my pajamas or my bright green avocado face mask? Not all of us can wake up looking as fabulous as you, Ben." She reached over and tousled his jet black hair, making it look even wilder than it did before.

He snorted and finished his cereal, placing his bowl in the sink. "I don't know, Rey. I'll think about it." He padded across the carpet to his room, Rey watching him as she munched on her toast.

_SW_

"I got the goods!" Finn exclaimed, setting down several bags filled to bursting with drinks and snacks for the night of movie-watching ahead. He collapsed on the couch next to Rey, who was sorting through a stack of DVDs. "Tell me you picked out some good ones," He said, nudging her shoulder.

Horror movie night had been a tradition for as long as Finn and Rey could remember. It started back in middle school, sneaking scary films from their foster parents' collections and watching them together in the living room at three in the morning. The bi-weekly event carried through their high school years and into their college careers; during the latter they invited their roommates to join in on the custom.

They found out rather quickly that neither Ben nor Poe were seasoned horror-film-watchers, as they often covered their eyes or ran from the room screaming. (More than a few drinks had been spilled and popcorn bowls upturned.)

Nevertheless, Finn and Rey insisted on their friends joining them, not because it enhanced the viewing experience at all, but because it was rather funny to watch them be scared out of their skin. Poe had the task of making Poe participate and Rey had to deal with Ben.

Their last movie choice, the newest IT, had made Poe shriek so loud he almost burst Finn's eardrum, and Ben literally jumped out of his seat and onto the floor before sprinting to his room.

"I don't know, maybe The Shining? That's always a good one. Or Carrie?" Rey suggested, holding up the case of her last pick.

Finn shook his head. "Nope. Poe is hemophobic, remember? Faints at the sight of blood?"

"Oh, yeah. Probably not that one, then." She grimaced and turned to him, pointing to another movie. "You know what I realized? That Heathers is pretty much a horror. It's sick and twisted and all messed up. Honestly that movie scared me more than half the ones in this stack!"

"Please tell me it's not movie night," Poe whimpered as he walked through the living room, still wearing his boots and winter coat. He had the misfortune of an evening class in the middle of a snowstorm.

Rey and Finn nodded smugly as he trudged off to his room. "I'll be back, but only because I love you guys. Otherwise, I'd lock myself in my room!"

"I tried," Ben drawled as he emerged from the bathroom. "They picked the lock."

Poe's eyes bulged as he turned to the duo, incredulous. "You two are relentless."

"Yup," Rey grinned and continued sorting through her movies. "Jeez, do you hear that wind? It's so loud," She rose and made her way over to the window, peering out. The whole world seemed to have been dipped in white puffy paint. Huge clumps of snow twirled in front of her, the wind howling. She turned to Finn, a mischievous look on her face. "We're watching The Shining."

_SW_

They were all piled on the couch, half on the actual sofa and half on top of each other, bowls of popcorn and empty soda bottles cradled in the folds of the quilts that they huddled under.

Poe and Ben had griped about her pick, but had realized it was useless to argue, resigning themselves to night of cult classics.

Rey and Finn had been riveted to the screen all night, not wanting to miss a single second, despite having seen the movie a half dozen times before.

"This is so freakin' creepy!" Poe wailed as he ducked his head under the covers. "No wonder I wasn't allowed to watch it growing up."

"Nerd," Ben tossed a piece of popcorn at his friend. "The least you could do is watch it now—"

Just as Jack Nicholson drove his axe through the bathroom door onscreen, the TV and all the lights in the house instantly flickered off.

"What the hell?" Ben bolted out of his seat, sending a bowl of popcorn flying. "What is this, you guys?" He turned to Poe, who buried himself deeper under the blanket. Ben moved to join him.

"This isn't funny, guys!" Poe's voice shook. "I mean it! Turn the lights on right now!"

Rey and Finn glanced at each other. It was just chance that the power had gone out, probably due to the snowstorm raging outside. But Ben and Poe didn't have to know that….

As their friends cowered beneath a heap of blankets, the two rose and crept across the room.

"What, you scared of the dark, Solo?" Rey taunted, grabbing a pillow from the loveseat.

"No." His voice cracked. "I'm scared of mentally unstable homicidal maniacs! Quite possibly in the form of my roommates!"

Finn snickered as he gripped a pillow in his hands. "Well, in that case…"

"Here's Johnny!" They screeched, whacking Poe and Ben with the pillows as they scrambled for cover.

Poe ducked behind the couch as Rey hurled a pillow at him. "You jerks!" He swore and chucked it back at her. "This means war!"

He launched himself at Finn, tackling him to the ground. He ripped the pillow out of his friend's hands and starting clobbering him. "Take that! And that!"

Rey rushed over to help him, but Ben used the blanket from the couch and tossed it over her, causing her to trip and stumble to the floor.

He scooped a pillow off the floor and attacked her, landing blows on her arms and torso. "That's what you get for scaring Ben Solo!" He crowed as she whipped the blanket off of her body.

"Oh, yeah?" She arched a brow and swung her leg at his feet, making him crumple to the ground. She climbed over to him and snatched the pillow from his hand. "And that's what you get for thinking you could defeat Rey Jakku."

He sighed, and then pushed her over, knocking her down. He climbed over her and pinned her wrists in place. She struggled a moment, and then resigned herself to defeat. "Nice try," he smirked and stood, heading down the hallway to his room.

Poe and Finn had separated and watched the whole scene unfold, and now they exchanged glances while trying not to crack up. Rey rolled her eyes at the two, flinging an abandoned pillow at them. "So immature," she sighed, getting up and walking to her room.

She couldn't hide the scarlet blush blooming across her face.

A/N: two updates in a row? Who am i?


	4. Chapter 4: Unbreak my heart

**Guys why does anyone read these I actually suck at writing.**

 **Composition? Format? Sentence structure? Subject matter? Don't know her.**

 **Anyway, for some reason y'all like these so here you go.**

 **_DISCLAIMER_**

 **I don't own Star Wars or any of the characters mentioned, or any of the songs used.**

"Guys, do you hear that?" Ben asked, turning to Poe and Finn, the three of them fixing supper in the kitchen.

Finn cocked his head to the side, listening. "Yeah, Rey's blasting some music. What's new?"

Ben swatted him in the arm, and set down the bowl of pancake mix he had been stirring. "She's been listening to Un-break my heart by Toni Braxton on repeat for the past hour. Do you think she's okay?"

"Oh no." Finn covered his mouth and exhaled deeply. "Rey only listens to that when she's really sad or just got dumped…" he shut off the heat to the stove and brushed past his roommates, starting down the hall.

Poe and Ben quickly matched his pace. "Wait, Rey has a boyfriend?" Poe asked, grabbing Finn by the arm, slowing him down. "Since when?"

"She's been seeing a guy for a couple of months. She made me swear not to tell you guys, because she didn't want you to get all excited when she wasn't even sure if it would work out. it seemed like she really liked him though," he trailed off, lost in thought.

Poe glanced at Ben, who seemed to have paled a bit. "Don't tell me you knew, too," he accused, but regretted it when Ben tensed up, anger flashing in his eyes.

"Clueless, same as you." His tone was cold.

They inhaled a collective breath and marched down the hall to Rey's room. Finn reached up to knock on the door, tentatively murmuring, "Rey?"

After a moment, they heard a loud sniff, and then a croaking voice. "Go away." She sounded weak, her words strained. "I'm fine."

"God, that's pathetic," Ben groaned, twisting the knob and shoving his way in front of his friends.

He was met by the sight of Rey, curled up on the floor under a pile of blankets. A box of tissues peeked out from the edge of one of the quilts.

She raised her head to look at him, streaks of mascara running down her face, eyes red and puffy.

"Fine, huh?" He whispered, moving to sit down beside her. She turned away, muffling a sob in her pillow. "Wanna talk?"

"No," she laughed bitterly. "I wanna stab something."

He chuckled, peeling back the blanket so he could see her face. "Okay, I can probably find something." He glanced around the room, his gaze stopping on a framed picture on her nightstand he hadn't noticed before. It showed Rey, standing and smiling with a taller man. He had light brown hair and green eyes. His eyes narrowed. "That him?" He asked, gesturing to the photo.

"Yeah," she didn't even look up.

An idea formed in his head as he stood and grabbed the photograph. He doesn't know how he missed it before; it had obviously been there awhile, the thin layer of dust coating the glass proving this. "Here," he said, shoving it toward her. When met with her confused expression, he sighed in exasperation, settling back down next to the blanket fort. He was painfully aware that Finn and Poe stood watching from the doorway, astonishment etched clearly across their faces. "Look, whenever I'm upset, like after failing an exam or any time I have to talk to my parents, I always vent by breaking something." He laughed, turning the photo over in his hands a few times. "Probably not very healthy, I know, but it works.

"So get up, throw this out the window, burn whatever sappy love letters he wrote, and for God's sake, please change the song!" Ben grinned as she raised her body with a groan and snatched the frame from him. She eyed the picture, an array of emotion visibly crossing her face. Sorrow, regret, indifference, rage. Her body trembled as she spoke.

"You know, I actually thought this one might work out," she glanced up at him, tears gathering but she blinked them away. "After all this time, maybe I'd have one normal relationship with a normal person and we'd do normal things like study dates and go out for dinner and find 'our song'." She stood, and then reached into her nightstand, yanking out a small box. "But maybe I'm not meant for normal. Maybe I'm not meant for love."

With that, she chucked the picture frame at her wall with a grunt, before upending the box into her trash can, a wave of paper cascading down. She finally clicked to another station on her Spotify, and collapsed onto her bed.

Ben ignored the shattered glass and the mess of letters and cinema tickets; he simply knelt beside her, clutching her hand as she sobbed. "That's not true, Rey. You deserve the world, and so much more."

Poe and Finn moved into the room, the latter placing a hand on her shoulder. She continued to cry unabashedly, unafraid to bare her soul to the three people gathered around her in the small bedroom of their little cottage-style home.

These were her people, her family, the ones she knew she could count on even in the darkest of times. They were her friends, her biggest supporters, the pillars that held up her spirit. She knew that they weren't leaving anytime soon.

Yeah, they drove her crazy. Finn, with his incessant hovering and tendency to jump to conclusions. He was the smile that lit up the room, the laugh that made everyone want to join in. He was her partner in crime; they were kindred spirits.

Poe was always ready with dad jokes and the ability to blow stuff up. He was the quick wit, the glue that held them together. He was her first new friend, the first one to accept her in this new place.

And then there was Ben. Sulky, grumpy, moody. Had a short temper, quite a destructive personality. They hadn't met under the best of circumstances, had hated each other, in fact. But over time, his icy exterior had melted a bit, revealing a boy who felt the weight of the world on his shoulders, something the two of them shared. There was something between them, something new, something different, something that she only caught in a tangible form when their eyes met.

Feeling exhausted, Rey sat up, wiping at her eyes and face. Her roommates watched her with concern, like she was a doll that could break at any moment. "Guys, I'm fi—" she stopped herself. She _wasn't_ fine. "I'm okay. I've got you guys. The greatest friends I could ever ask for."

She found herself smiling as Finn called out "Group hug!" and there was a groan from Ben, and she was swept into a tight embrace. Fresh tears sprung to her eyes, this time from pure happiness.

A song finished as they broke apart, and they couldn't help but feel the weight of the last line.

 _'No one's ever gonna love you more than I do."_

 **A/N: in case you didn't know, that last bit is a lyric from Band of Horses' No one's gonna love you, a great song, check it out. also, unbreak my heart, a** ** _bop_** **.**

 **Anyway I hope you enjoyed, this was fun and heartbreaking to write. The boy in the photo was based off a character I read in another star wars fanfic, but he's not really of any importance so I didn't give his name.**

 **Okay, adios!**


	5. Chapter 5: Maz's Arcade

**A lovely reviewer (a guest by the name of Cherokee96) had the wonderful idea for the squad to take Rey to Chuck E. Cheese's to cheer her up after the break-up and I thought that that would be adorable so here you go!**

 **P.S I haven't been to Chuck E. Cheese's in a million years so my memories of the place are a little rusty please don't judge me if anything is inaccurate. (I also changed the name to help it fit the story!)**

 **P.P.S Thank you all so much for the positive responses! It warms my heart so much to read your reviews. It means the world to me!**

 **P.P.P.S Sorry it took me so long to update this chapter! I would stare at this document for an hour and nothing worth writing would come to me. I also had a bit of a virus scare with my brand-new laptop (the one I'm using at the moment) so I had to take it in to be looked at. But I have tomorrow off so hopefully I can post another chapter!**

"Rey, you've been moping around the house and stuffing your face with ice cream for two weeks," Ben said, unceremoniously shoving her off the couch. "You need to get out, live your life."

It was 2:40 p.m Thursday afternoon. Ben had returned from his final exam of the day and found Rey still cemented to the couch as he had left her that morning, except now she was surrounded by the wrappers and packages of various snacks. She had glanced up at him as he walked in, her eyes a bit glazed over, her hair dirty and tied up in a bun. She wore one of his shirts that she had stolen months ago, along with a pair of boxers she pirated from Finn last wash day. Her appearance was pitiful.

She groaned from her spot, face-down on the floor. "I've left to go to class," she quipped, but her argument was weak.

"Yeah, only because you're paying an ungodly amount to attend, and can't afford to skip." He dragged her up to a semi-sitting position, more slouched over, leaning on him as he settled next to her. "It's scary to see you like this. All bummed out. Usually you're a little ray of sunshine. Get it?" He elbowed her side. " _Rey_ of sunshine."

She lifted her head and stared at him, a small smile blessing her features. "Did the stoic, no-sense-of-humor Ben Solo just make a pun?"

He shrugged. "Did I? I hadn't noticed." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I got you to smile, so it worked."

Rey huffed out a breath and rolled her eyes, a faint blush coloring her face as she snuggled closer to him.

Something had changed between the two. She wasn't sure when it started, maybe when they made peace over their differences during a late breakfast one Saturday two months ago. Maybe when he grabbed her hand when she slipped on a patch of ice in the parking garage and didn't let go until she was safely inside the car. Maybe just a few weeks ago, when he sat in her room and let her cry and helped her heal and by doing so, shared a piece of his soul.

Then again, maybe she always knew. There was always a certain light in his eyes when he would glance over at her, something that warmed her heart and made her smile glow. Maybe she hadn't been so subtle, either; the words of encouragement, the stolen moments in the back of Poe's car when they'd lean close, whispering jokes about the Finn and Poe in the front seat or make simple observations of the scenery whizzing past them, her attempts to make him laugh, or at least smirk, because nothing brightened her day like seeing him happy.

They sat there, together, wrapped in their thoughts and each other's arms.

The little bubble of tranquility shattered when Finn burst through the front door, singing painfully loud to his favorite song, headphones clapped over his ears. The two sprang apart, Rey scurrying up the couch before Finn even acknowledged their presence. When he finally did, his voice cut off, ending in a sharp squeak of surprise. He cleared his throat before speaking.

"I, uh, didn't know you guys were here. Well, I knew Rey was, she hasn't moved for two weeks—" at this, she flopped back and covered her head with a pillow. "—but I thought Ben left a couple hours ago."

Ben grinned at him, shifting in his spot. "And what, miss your spectacular singing? I didn't know how much passion you had to 'Shine Bright like a Diamond'."

"Screw off, Solo," Finn retorted, marching down the hall toward his room.

The two watched him leave, and then wilted in relief.

_SW_

"Wait, wait, slow down—they were what?!" Poe's incredulous voice screeched from the phone's tiny speaker, making it sound as though he was screaming right into Finn's ear.

"You heard me," Finn repeated, sitting down on his bed. "They were _snuggling_. Right here, in our own home."

He saw his two roommates all cozy together the moment he walked in, mere seconds before they practically tripped over one another trying to create distance between them. Too late. He had seen them. Had their lovey-dovey, sappy expressions seared into his brain.

He grinned when Poe scoffed. "They wouldn't dare," He could imagine Poe clutching his chest in mock despair. His normal voice returned with a bark of a laugh. "It's about time."

"Totally," Finn agreed, rolling over on his bed. "I think he'll be good for her, and vice versa. We just have to get them to realize it." An idea popped into his head, making him grin mischievously. "Poe, you remember where I first asked Rose to be my girlfriend?"

His friend was silent for a moment. "That kid's arcade place right? You said it was 'totally cheesy and undeniably romantic'." He faked a gagging sound. "So, what about it?"

"Really? You have to ask?"

"Ooh… you got a coupon, right? That place is crazy expensive."

Finn groaned and buried his head in his hands.

_SW_

"Poe, where are you taking us?" Rey asked, jostling about the backseat, repeatedly knocking into Ben, who was seated next to her, looking as apprehensive as she sounded.

Finn and Poe had practically kidnapped the two of them, telling them to change into comfy clothes and get in the car. They had some sort of mysterious surprise planned, but neither were letting any details slip.

Finn didn't look up from his phone as he replied. "Like I said, you'll see when we get there." He sighed, adding, "I'll give you a hint. We're meeting up with Rose."

"Oh, such a great clue," Ben scoffed, running a hand through his characteristically unruly raven black hair. "At least I know you won't murder us in front of your girlfriend."

The two in the front both shrugged with "you never know" expressions on their faces. They continued in silence before pulling up in front a small strip mall, emblazoned 'Takodana Plaza' by a blinding neon sign at the entrance. Easing the car into a parking spot, Poe glanced back as he turned the car off and laughed at Rey and Ben's astonished looks.

"You're kidding." Rey breathed, the four of them climbing out of the car, staring at the store front they ended up at.

Maz's Arcade.

A small restaurant that featured an indoor jungle gym and playground, large tube-tunnels running the length of the building, in certain parts containing a ladder so the occupant could climb up to the tunnel attached to the ceiling. It had an amazing collection of old arcade games from the 80's and 90's, everything from Pac-Man to Dig-Dug.

To Rey, it looked like heaven.

A sharp squeal drew their attention as a short girl with jet black hair and a huge smile made her way to them, before throwing herself into Finn's arms. "It's been forever!" She said, pressing a kiss to his cheek. Poe pretended to throw up, earning a hard stare from Finn and the girl.

"Rose, you've met Poe, and these are my two other roommates, Rey and Ben." He leaned over and whispered something in her ear, causing the couple to break out in a fit of giggles.

Rey shot Ben a confused look before extending her hand politely. "It's so nice to finally meet you—" she was cut off as Rose wrapped her in lung-crushing embrace.

"I've heard so much about you!" Rose's voice was higher than Rey expected, but had the same perkiness and energy that matched her cheerful disposition. "It's so great to meet you! Finn never stops talking about you—Rey this, Rey that! I'm so glad he has you for a best friend!"

Both Finn and Rey sported matching blushes from his girlfriend's words. The latter turned to Ben with embarrassment clearly displayed on her features as she covered her face, laughing.

"Uh, hi, Rose," Ben began, a hint of fear in his eye. "Great to finally put a face to the name—whoa!" He, too, was swept into a tight hug, Rose chattering away about all of his great qualities that Finn had mentioned. He raised his eyebrows at his roommate as she remarked, "you really do look exactly as he described you. Tall, dark hair, dark brown eyes, scar on cheek, brooding disposition."

"Brooding? Really?"

Finn hastily grabbed his girlfriend's hand and whisked them toward the entrance. "Adventure awaits!"

_SW_

What had he been thinking?

Poe dragged a hand over his face as he glanced over at Finn and Rose, who were quietly laughing over some inside joke. He flicked his gaze to Rey and Ben, the former chattering excitedly about all the wonders of the arcade, the latter simply gazing at her with pure adoration.

He was gonna be sick.

"Yeah, great idea, _Finn_ ," he grumbled as they all slid into a booth and ordered two large pizzas from the smiling waitress. "Have a nice double date, and leave Poe to fifth-wheel."

"Guys," Rey started, gathering everyone's attention. "I don't know if I can wait long enough to eat before I go out there," She pointed at the huge play area, complete with merry-go-rounds, a ball pit, a zip-line from one corner of the store to another, a bumper car track, and a 40-foot trampoline that allowed you to jump into a large trench filled with foam squares.

Finn and Rose laughed. "Rey, the food here is served in, like, five minutes. Trust me, it won't be long before you're out there." Finn couldn't help but smile at his friend's obvious enthusiasm.

"Have you ever been here before?" Rey directed her question at Ben, who had been surveying the interior for a solid ten minutes.

His brow furrowed and he shrugged. "Maybe, forever ago. I think my mom took me once…" he trailed off.

Poe felt a pang of sympathy for his old friend. "Yeah! I think we went together that one time back in third grade?" he offered Ben a smile as he continued. "And there was this really mean fifth grader named Joss and he was the biggest bully in school. He always made fun of me for how small I was, and would always tease Ben about his ears and nose, which," he poked Ben's shoulder with a taunting grin as he noticed the aforementioned ears turn red with embarrassment, "he's finally grown into. I, however, am still short." the group burst out laughing, which earned them several glares from the surrounding families. "Wait, wait! I haven't even got to the best part! So this kid, Joss, he came up to me and shoved me so hard I fell, and said something like 'Hey, Dameron. Why you so damn tiny?' I of course burst out in tears, for two reasons. One, I thought damn was the worst bad word you could ever say, and two, because he kept jabbing me in the shoulder when he talked. He was a real asshole.

"But then, my knight in shining armor, all four feet of him, that is, jumped to my rescue. Like, actually jumped. Ben launched himself up at this kid and knocked him down, and they were trading punches. Our friend here was getting pummeled—" Ben broke in with a word of protest, but Poe silenced him with a wave of his hand. "Yes, Ben, I love ya, but he was destroying you. Until, at the last moment, Ben finally slips out of Joss' hold and lands a nice right hook square in the nose. Blood started pouring out, all over the mats, and you know me, the hemophobe, I passed out the second I saw a drop of blood drip down his face. "He shuddered, visibly disturbed. "Ms. Organa noticed that we hadn't returned to the table for a slice of pizza in a while so she went to find us. And imagine her response when she found me, unconscious on the floor, Ben, huffing and puffing with a bloodied fist, and this kid, rolling around on the mats, clutching his nose and wailing."

"She was pissed," Ben finished quietly, a silent laugh in his words. "Oh, man. I had forgotten about that. I think she grabbed my arm and scooped Poe up and then went to go find the boy's mom. Of course, he was there on his own, so my mother called an ambulance, afraid that his nose was broken. Poe finally woke up, about five minutes into my mom's tirade. Good God, she would not stop screaming at me once we got out the car. I think once Joss was deemed to be okay, we dropped Poe off at his house and then we went straight back home. Needless to say, I could not sit for a week."

Rey rested her hand on his arm, mirth sparkling in her eyes. "Well, I hope she knows now that you're a hero."

"Hell yeah," Finn and Rose chimed in, much to Ben's chagrin and the astonishment to the several families that were lined up at the counter. The couple offered a weak apology before turning back to the conversation.

They continued to talk about their childhoods, Finn and Rey sharing the least and Rose sharing the most. She told about how her parents were killed in a racing accident when she was fifteen years old, leaving her under the care of her nineteen-year-old sister, Paige. They had had to join in on the very racing that had killed their parents, just to make enough money to survive in a one-bedroom apartment in the worst part of the city. The two sisters were gifted in mechanics and engineering; they were always fixing up the cars and motorcycles that the racing ring used. After about three years of doing so, they managed to break out of the ring and find different jobs. Paige and Rose both attended trade schools, both to be mechanics, at class during the day and working at car shops at night.

Rose and Finn actually met at her last job when he brought Poe's car in to be looked at.

The waitress appeared with two steaming pizza trays and set them on the table. The friends eagerly dug in, stuffing their faces as quickly as they could.

"Okay, I'm done!" Rey announced, wiping her mouth off with a napkin. "Let's go!"

She grabbed Ben's hand and dragged him with her toward the trampoline. He watched her jump around for a few minutes, feeling quite silly if he joined in. Rey rolled her eyes as she landed and stepped off to stand beside him.

"You're no fun," she pouted, and then tackled him. They landed in a heap on the trampoline, bouncing a few times before slowing to a stop. Rey was on her feet in a second, soaring sky-high, doing front flips and rolls, all while Ben sat there, still watching. Poe, Finn, and Rose joined them, all springing about, laughing wildly.

"I have an idea!" Rose called out, panting. "Since Ben is just sitting there, I figured we could play a game. It's called popcorn. Ben was to wrap his arms around his knees and we all jump around him, trying to making him lose his grip. Like a corn kernel exploding into a piece of popcorn."

Ben rolled his eyes but participated anyway, mostly due to Rey's cajoling. They played several rounds, each person getting a turn in the middle. Then they took turns doing flips and rolls into the giant box of foam squares.

Short of breath, they crawled out and headed toward the ball pit, where they engaged in a war, spheres of primary colors flying through the air and hitting their targets. Poe and Finn were the best at this game.

They raced bumper cars, sped down the zip line, and crossed the foam pit as they climbed along on monkey bars. They were thoroughly exhausted when Rey suggested a game of hide and seek in the tube-tunnel system that ran throughout the whole building.

She voted herself to be 'it', and sat back at their booth while everyone went to go hide. She counted to a hundred-Mississippi, and then set off to find her friends.

She entered the garishly yellow plastic tube to the immediate right of the table. She crawled through, the static electricity making her hair stand on end. It was considerably darker in the tube than in the store, making her wish she had brought her phone with her to use as a flashlight. She inched about ten feet forward before coming to a fork in the tunnel. She shrugged and headed right.

Rey found Poe huddled in a corner of the tube, mostly shrouded in darkness, given away by his heavy breathing. She laughed as he griped about being the first one to be discovered; she could still hear his mumbling as he made his way to the exit.

Finn and Rose were fairly easy to find, she had climbed up the ladder and spotted the two, one tucked into a shadowy corner, the other nestled in one of the bubble windows that protruded from the side of the tube, allowing a little light in. They had laughed when she saw them, saying that it was about time.

"I got a freaking foot cramp from waiting so long," Finn teased as he bumped shoulders with Rey. "Took you long enough to get here."

"Oh, hush," Rey and Rose quipped in unison. They shared a grin and continued on, Rey toward the rest of the tunnels, Finn and Rose toward the exit.

She moved slowly, sliding along the slick interior of the tube, small patches of light illuminating her way. She knew that Ben would be the hardest to locate, he was always good at hiding.

As she entered the last portion of tube-maze, completely confused as to how Ben had evaded her, she felt the air shift as it always did when he was around.

Rey could see the light at the end of the tunnel, but instead turned a sharp right and reached a hand out.

Ben had somehow plastered himself to the wall using the humid air and the static electricity, and came rolling down when Rey nudged him with her hand.

He groaned as the air was knocked out of him, and looked up to see a grinning Rey, her face barely visible in the shadow, but her smile emanating its own light.

"Found you."

 **A/N: woo-wee! That was quite the rollercoaster ride. This is the longest chapter I've written in quite a while, just for this story but for any of my works. I hope you enjoyed this, I apologize for the long wait, but I hope it was worth it!**


	6. Chapter 6: Sick Day

**Guys I am the absolute worst. It took me ten years to write this chapter, for two reasons: one, I have zero work ethic and two, I have had the worstttttttt writer's block these past couple of weeks. I'M SO SORRY. It's spring break here this week so hopefully I will be able to get some stuff out.**

They had been up all night.

The four roommates lay sprawled across various pieces of furniture throughout the house. Finn was slumped over a bowl of Lucky Charms in the dining room. Poe slept soundly in the hallway leading to the bedrooms. Ben found himself half on the couch, half on the floor, his feet kicking up over the back of the sofa. Rey resided in the couch opposite him, wrapped in a blanket with a garbage can perched beside her.

She had the flu.

She had kept her friends awake through the night with her constant vomiting and pained groans. Eventually, after the third or fourth time being startled from their sleep, the three boys tiredly decided to stay up with her, fetching her water and re-microwaving the rice-filled heating pad every now and then.

They all passed out from exhaustion around four in the morning, the TV still displaying the _FRIENDS_ reruns they had been paying half-attention to throughout the night.

Rey was the first to wake around seven, emptying her stomach contents into the trash can at her bedside. Ben woke next and trudged to the kitchen to fill a water bottle for her. He tried to let his friends sleep, for they had classes that day and he didn't.

Finn dragged himself from the floor to the dining room around ten to eat breakfast, but had fallen asleep while eating his cereal. Poe was practically unconscious in his spot in the hallway.

"Finn, Poe," Rey croaked, sometime around noon. "You losers need to get up or you'll miss class."

Poe groaned, stirring, before retorting, "We're the losers?" His question was perforated by a yawn. "You're the one who kept us up all night."

"Yeah," Finn chimed, rubbing his eyes and munching on his soggy cereal. "I think I'm going to have nightmares. I didn't know such a small person could produce so much puke."

Rey started to laugh, which turned into a coughing fit, which, of course, woke Ben.

He entered consciousness with an animal-like yawn, stretching, before losing his balance and toppling from his precarious position on the couch. He lay rather awkwardly folded on the carpeted floor, heels over head, blinking slowly as he tried to grasp all that had happened in such a short time. He glanced at his friends, who were clutching their stomachs, howling with laughter. (Except Rey. She could only cough.)

"We never speak of this," Ben ordered, standing and straightening his clothes. He headed toward his room, and as he passed Poe in the hallway, nudged a foot into his friend's ribs, eliciting a groan from the recipient of the kick and stifled laughter from the two who watched it happen.

Poe grumbled, standing, as Ben sauntered away with a smirk. They went into their respective bedrooms, followed by Finn, who had just dumped his empty bowl in the sink.

Rey sipped on her glass of water and turned on her phone, half-focusing on her Twitter and half-listening to her roommates bicker.

"Poe! You stole my jeans! Again!" she heard him stomp across the hall and shove Poe's door open, and she winced as it slammed into the wall. "Give them back! Now!" Poe's protests were muffled. "I don't care if you don't have any pants! Those are MINE! Borrow some of Ben's!"

Poe must have walked out of his room, because she clearly heard him yell, "Borrow pants from the Green Giant? He's, like, a thousand feet tall. There's no way I'd be able to fit in them!"

"That's also assuming I'd even lend them to you," Ben drawled, emerging from the hallway, dressed in fresh clothes: a black shirt, black jeans, and a black zip-up hoodie. "But I think Rey might have a pair you could use."

Rey rolled her eyes but nodded. Her voice was too hoarse to call out to him, so Ben spoke for her. "She said there are some in her room you could borrow." He listened to Rey's whispered words. "A pair of gray sweatpants in the top drawer of her dresser."

Several minutes later, Finn and Poe left for class, the former in a sunshine yellow shirt with dark wash jeans, and the latter in a red sweatshirt with heather gray fitted joggers that were about three inches too short.

Ben and Rey couldn't contain their laughter as the two passed by on their way to the front door. Poe glared at them and made sure to slam the door hard enough to shake the foundation of the house.

Once they had left, Ben walked into the kitchen and started searching through the cupboards. "Have you eaten?"

A scoff sounded from the living room. "Are you kidding?" her gravelly voice was barely loud enough to be heard. "I tried eating a cracker, and I threw up right after." A sharp sneeze punctuated her sentence.

"Green tea with one sugar cube and half a teaspoon of honey is what you like, right? I think I could manage to make that," he reached up and grabbed her favorite mug, gray with yellow daisies, from the shelf, and set about making the drink. He filled the kettle with water and set it on the stove. Rey watched him, slightly incredulous.

"I was just going to heat the water in the microwave but I remember you telling Finn that it tasted like garbage when he did that," Ben explained, settling beside her on the couch, spreading another quilt over her. "Has your temperature gone down at all?"

"Nope, still 103," she stared at him, and she noticed his face redden.

"What?" he shifted uncomfortably under her gaze.

She smirked and turned away to cough into her elbow. "Nothing. It's just the first I'm seeing of this…domestic side of you. It's nice. Wanna bake me some cookies while you're at it?"

Rolling his eyes, he jabbed her in the ribs. "I'm _trying_ to be nice. It's what friends do, right?" The easy smile dropped from Rey's face, and something he couldn't name flashed in her eyes. He cleared his throat, looking away. "But cookies? That's something I excel at."

He stood, and relaxed a little when her grin reappeared. "Double chocolate?"

" _Puh-lease_."

_SW_

Ben scurried around the kitchen, mixing various bowls of flour and sugar, vegan margarine and egg substitute. Rey watched him rather fondly from the blanket fort he built for her astonishingly quickly.

The floor of her fort was oversize pillows (stolen from Poe), decorated with a humidifier and essential oil diffuser (taken from Finn) and legions of stuffed animals (from Rey's own collection).

She sipped on her tea, and munched on unbuttered toast. She was wrapped in her favorite blanket, a worn cotton comforter with light blue hydrangeas, and tried to read her book, _Inkheart_. She kept getting distracted.

Ben popped a tray of cookie dough into the preheated oven, and snapped the door shut with a satisfied smirk. He set the timer and turned to Rey, who glanced up at him.

"Good job. You put them in the oven." She deadpanned. "I still don't know if they're any good."

He scoffed and dumped the bowls and spoons in the sink. "Trust me. They are going to be _delicious_."

"If you say so." She couldn't hide the smile growing on her face.

Ben crawled into the fort next to her and pulled out his phone. "Oh, I say so."

They lounged on the pillow floor in companionable silence until the timer went off, and Ben rose to check on the cookies. Rey handed him her cup and went back to her reading.

He returned with her mug refilled and a plate of steaming cookies.

Rey didn't hesitate in grabbing a cookie from the tray and taking a bite. It burned her tongue, making her feel foolish, but she couldn't deny the amazing flavor.

"These _are_ delicious!" She exclaimed and picked up three more.

He rolled his eyes and took one for himself.

They sat and they talked. They listened to old show tunes and discussed politics. They watched cat videos and posted pictures of their food on their Instagram accounts. (And snuck in pictures of each other.) They got into a lively argument over which book was better, Hunger Games or Divergent. They talked about Ben's parents. They talked about Rey's childhood. They told jokes about their roommates. They complained about classes.

And neither could stop smiling the whole time.

Finn and Poe came home to find the two wrapped together in a blanket and Lady and The Tramp playing on the TV.

They each helped themselves to a couple of cookies and tiptoed around their two friends, making their way down the hallway to their rooms.

The next day, Rey found herself with three sick roommates.

 **the ending isn't my favorite but i wrote like seven different versions and this was the one i hated the least soooo**

 **hope you enjoy! 3**


	7. Chapter 7: Sick day(and heartfelt talks)

So, I have discovered that the only way to update a story is to ACTUALLY SIT DOWN AND WRITE IT. Wow, the world is such a crazy place.

This piece was suggested by an awesome reviewer, the lonely crouton (I love that username!), who asked for a part two of chapter six.

So here we have Rey taking care of her boys.

Rey had seen hell.

She had thought, after her own bout of the flu, that nothing could gross her out, but that was quickly disproved by the synchronized retching coming from all three of her friends' rooms.

She had stayed up all night, running between the rooms, trying to keep her head of straight while making sure they didn't throw up all over themselves. (or each other.)

Thank God she never applied to nursing school.

By noon the next day, their food supply was depleted and Rey was exhausted.

"Guys! I'm heading to the store!" Rey called, hoisting her tote bag over her shoulder. "Any requests?"

"Chicken noodle soup," Poe croaked.

"Some Gatorade," Finn wheezed.

"A miracle," Ben rasped, interrupted by a sharp cough.

She rolled her eyes and slammed the door shut behind her.

Finn waited a moment, and then picked up his phone to text Poe.

 _IT'S GO TIME._

The two dragged themselves from their beds and into Ben's room, where they were met with a cry of protest.

"No, Solo, we have to talk," Poe ordered, collapsing on the floor. Finn seated himself beside Ben's quilt-covered form.

A groan. "I am nearly delirious with fever, and you expect me to uphold a conversation?" he shifted to glare at his roommates over the edge of the blanket. His eyes were red and bloodshot and his dark hair looked like a bird's nest.

His friends didn't look much better. Poe grabbed a discarded sweater from the foot of the bed and balled it up under his head to form a pillow. "Don't be so difficult, Ben. We just want to ask some questions."

"Oh, great." The sarcasm in his voice was palpable.

Finn cleared his throat, and settled back against the wall. "What's going on with you and Rey?"

Ben stiffened, and it took a moment to respond. "Nothing," he tried to sound casual, but his voice cracked on the last syllable.

Poe and Finn exchanged glances. "Uh-huh," Poe drawled, flipping over to face the two. "So, you're saying that you don't have a crush on her?"

"The only crush I have is the crushing weight of my existence."

Finn rolled his eyes and smacked a hand to his forehead. "You are _so_ dramatic. C'mon, man. Be honest. You know that you're perfect for each other,"

"Yeah," Poe chimed, leaning up on one elbow. "You're like all dark and brood-y, and she's like, actual sunshine in human form."

"I've noticed," Ben's words were muffled, he was most likely burying his head in a pillow to drown out his friends.

"Ben!" Finn yanked the blanket off of his friend's head, and smirked when he saw that the tips of his ears were red. "I knew it! You do like her!"

He sat up and shoved Finn off his bed. "Shut up! I do not!"

Poe caught his friend and they both stared at Ben.

"Okay, well, I mean," he fiddled with the frayed edges of the quilt, avoiding their gazes. "I mean, I _do_ , but there's no way she'd ever like me back." He cut off their protests. "Look at me, guys! First of all, I am an emotionally unavailable person, I have trust issues, I have commitment issues—"

"Don't forget daddy issues," Poe quipped.

Ben rolled his eyes and flopped back on his bed, dragging a hand over his chin. "It doesn't matter," he continued quietly. "She deserves so much better."

Finn jumped to his feet and gaped at him. "Better like that asshole that broke her heart a month ago? Better like the jerks she dated throughout high school? Better like the boys who try to take advantage of her at work because they think she's incompetent?" he shook his head almost ruefully. "Ben, she deserves _you_." He sat on the corner of the bed and sighed. His voice was hoarse when he spoke again. "We had hard childhoods, man. Never had good role models. Never had people to really love us. I mean, we had each other, but that was different. So we went looking for love in all the wrong places. We wanted so much to be accepted." He trailed off. "There was this kid. Senior year of high school when Rey met him. She thought he was the one, just because he took her out to nice dinners and treated her nicely. I mean, he wasn't all that bad of a person, maybe a little self-absorbed, but whatever. Anyway, she thought they were gonna get married and all that fun stuff. She told me that he didn't want her to go to college, didn't want her to pursue her dream of becoming a mechanic. She broke up with him soon after that.

"Ben, Rey needs to be with someone who cherishes her, who values her, respects her, and loves her. I've seen her fall for too many dead-beats with pretty faces. She likes to fix things. But whoever's she with shouldn't only be with her because they're broken. She's broken too, man. And I think she needs someone who will help her heal, and maybe become whole again." He glanced up at Ben, the both of them with tears welling in their eyes. "I think you could be that man."

Ben wiped his eyes with the back of his hands, and inhaled a shaky breath. "I feel like I just got hit with a freight train,"

Poe chuckled from his spot on the ground, and offered a watery smile. "Damn it, whenever I hang out with you guys, I always cry."

The unmistakable BANG of the front door hitting the wall shocked them out of their bubble. "I got the good stuff!" Rey announced, budging the door to his room open with her hip, holding brown paper bags in each hand. She stopped short when she saw the three of them hastily trying to conceal their tears. "Are you guys alright?"

"Yeah, we're good," Finn sniffed, rubbing his nose. "All the coughing makes our eyes water. And that's all we've done for the past half hour. Coughed and sneezed. Oh, I guess Poe almost threw up on Ben that one time."

Rey smirked and sat down on the floor, pulling items one by one out of the bag. "I got some Sprite, some crackers, chicken broth for Poe, green tea with ginger, a carton of vegetable broth for our resident vegan, some Gatorade for Finn, bread, oranges, a bottle of vitamins, and regular ice cream for you two and raspberry sorbet for Ben!" she flashed a bright smile, and hopped to her feet. "I'll go whip something up. And by whip something up I mean I'll put some soup in the microwave." She was halfway out the door before she turned back. "Hot tea okay for you guys? Honey, too? Except for in yours, Ben. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten." She disappeared down the hall a moment later.

Ben felt the blush rising on his cheeks as he glanced over at his friends. Finn perked an eyebrow while Poe pretended to fan himself. "Shut up," he moaned, and buried himself under the comforter.

"We haven't said anything!" Finn cried.

"No, but I can sense you guys are smiling. So again, I say, shut up."

A/N: so you got your girl crying in the club. Hope you enjoy this chapter (I know I deviated a quite a bit from the general prompt for the story but I realized I didn't have any interaction with just the three boys without Rey so I figured this would be just as a good a time as any. Plus they get to talk about fEeLiNgS so that's always fun)


	8. Chapter 8: Shower Escapades

Maybe it was pure coincidence, but it seemed that Rey and Ben were home alone, together, _a lot._

Rey first noticed it a couple days after they recovered from the flu, Poe and Finn were making every excuse to not be at the house during the day, leaving early in the morning and returning late at night. She didn't think much of it, simply assumed they wanted time away after being cooped up for nearly two weeks.

Ben, however, knew exactly what they were up to. Ever since their heartfelt conversation a few days prior, his two roommates had been giving him looks and not-so-subtle nudges—elbows to the ribcage—any time Rey was around. _Make a move_ , their actions and expressions screamed, but he ignored them every time, instead choosing to duck into his room, the tips of his ears burning in embarrassment.

So, now, they were enacting their last resort: simply force the two oblivious lovebirds to be together. Alone. As often as possible.

Of course, they had their classes to attend and jobs to do, but nearly every moment spent in their little, three-bedroom plus one-dining-room-turned-bedroom cottage on the corner of Crait Lane and Chandrila Court, was spent together.

Rey had just returned from a full day of classes (intro to welding, advanced mechanics, basic engineering 101, and Basic tango dancing with Poe, just for the heck of it), and she was sore, tired, and hungry. She tossed her messenger bag onto the couch, ignoring the fact that a stack of textbooks spilled out, and marched to the kitchen, yanking open the fridge. She scanned the contents, grabbing a Tupperware of leftover Chinese takeout and her Arizona Tea from a few days ago. She emptied her food out onto a plate and shoved it in the microwave, setting the timer for two minutes before she turned to the pantry. A bag of chips, two granola bars, a chocolate cookie, and a box of goldfish crackers found their way into her arms. She padded across the carpet and dispensed her loot onto the sofa beside her bag before returning to grab her drink and main course.

She powered up the TV, flipping through channels until she landed on something not completely unbearable, some cheesy flick about these two lovers from outer space who were on opposite sides of the war. Rey turned her attention to her phone, shoveling a forkful of fried rice into her mouth. She scrolled through Instagram, stopping every few minutes to like a picture, most frequently one of her friends or a dog.

"Please, Kylo, don't leave me! Don't go this way!" the female character from the movie cried out, tears streaking down her cheeks as she reached for her love.

"No, you're still holding onto the past! Let go! Come with me, and we can rule the galaxy together, Kira!" he replied, extending a hand to her. "Join me. Please."

The girl, Kira, continued crying, with renewed intensity. "Kylo, you're all I have now. I need you. I—I love you." Sparks from severed electrical wires rained down around them, lighting up parts of their faces.

"I love you, too."

"Oh, please!" Rey groaned, munching on a handful of chips. She shut off the program, rolling her eyes. For the first time, she noticed the muffled sound of a voice, coming from the bathroom. "Ben?" she called, standing and moving to the hallway. The voice was louder, and more clear.

 _"But he doesn't know what she's been through before, puts herself on the front lines with no reward, and takes care of everyone before herself,"_ Ben was belting out the words in the shower, his voice and the sound of the water melting together. Rey covered her mouth to keep from bursting into laughter. She could tell he'd skipped ahead in the song, despite never having heard it previously, due to the tone and tempo change. _"She catches on to all his signs, a change of pace for her but it's fine, she's not used to it but he goes the distance for her too. She is all he needs and desires, and it is about time she acquired someone who knows she's not a fool."_ Her face started to heat up. She felt as though she were intruding. _"She's on his mind day and night, thinks he takes her for granted but to her surprise, he needs her more than she needs him. Won't fight, no, just walks away. Won't tell his secrets keeps them safe. That's why she's not just another face…."_ His voice trailed off, thoughtful and quiet.

Rey's face was burning. Not only had she stood outside the bathroom for at least five minutes while Ben showered, she also witnessed his beautiful singing voice and maybe a glimpse into his true feelings. Was he singing about her? And if he was, did that mean—

Her musing was interrupted by a sharp yelp followed by a loud thud and the tell-tale sound of shampoo bottles crashing to the ground. Before thinking it through, she shoved the door open to find Ben, lying in the bathtub, wrapped in the shower curtain, which had been torn from the rod. A graveyard for broken bottles surrounded him, their sudsy contents flowing toward the drain.

Thankfully, he was mostly covered up by the curtain, only his arms and upper chest were visible. His incredibly _toned_ arms and upper chest—"Ben! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good," he grunted, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "Just slipped and fell, like an idiot."

Rey couldn't conceal her laughter. "Oh my, what a mess." She closed the toilet lid and sat down, shaking her head. "I expect full reimbursement for the innocent lives of my showers gels that were lost today."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He rolled his eyes, and then stiffened, slowly turning to look at her, his face an even brighter shade of red. "How long have you been here?"

She stood, shrugging her shoulders. "Not long," she answered breezily, sidling toward the floor and flinging it open. She made her way down the hall, humming as she did so.

Ben's stomach dropped to his feet as he recognized the tune.

 **A/N: this has got to be one of my very favorite chapters I've ever written. Its not that late (2:04 AM) but I also just updated three different stories and my hands feel like jelly and I'm spelling my words like a drunk man THANK GOD FOR AUTOCORRECT. the song is how do i tell a girl i want to kiss her by modern baseball a _BOP_**


	9. Chapter 9: Spring has sprung

There is no better way to celebrate the beginning of spring than with a party.

At least, that's what Poe told his roommates when inviting them to Jess Pava's bonfire. "C'mon, guys. Let's do something fun! Nothing's more fun than beer, smores , and best friends!"

Rey glanced up from her book. "Poe, you're allergic to gluten. You can't drink beer."

"I'm vegan, so I can't eat chocolate on my smores," Ben chimed, slipping his black hoodie over his head and tossing it on the couch before collapsing next to Rey on the floor. The sunlight shining in from the open window illuminated his face, casting a shadow on the wall behind him. "which basically makes them disgusting."

Finn continued to wash the dishes in the kitchen, barely glancing over his shoulder to reply. "I have sensitive lungs. Fire smoke would irritate them. I would start coughing and be unable to stop." He shrugged, slipping a glass into the cabinet. "I mean, I would go, but that doesn't seem to be much fun for those involved."

"You're kidding!" Poe exclaimed, tossing his hands in the air as he paced across the shag carpet of the living room. "If you guys really didn't want to go, you could have just told me."

"We don't want to go," the three called in unison.

"C'mon, guys!" he dropped to his knees, clasping his hands together. "I'm begging you." The carpet made a soft _swishing_ noise as he shuffled across, closer to where Ben and Rey were seated. "Jess is really nice. Her house is nice. The weather's nice. Everything would be nice, if only my _best friends_ would go!"

His roommates exchanged uneasy glances. It wasn't often that Poe got down on his hands and knees and begged them. Rey was the first to relent.

"Okay, fine, I'll go!" she tossed her book aside with an exasperated sigh. "If it means that much to you, I'll go."

Poe leaned forward and fist bumped her. "Heck, yeah! What about you guys?" he turned to look at the two boys, both who were avoiding his gaze. "Do you love me as much as Rey does?"

Finn heaved a sigh, drying off the last plate before putting it away. "Yeah, whatever. But if I go, Ben goes." He glanced pointedly at his friend. He moved to join them in the living room, crossing his arms and raising his brow.

"Hey! Don't drag me into this!" Ben put a hand up in defense, rising to his feet. "Guys, look. I have a bunch of homework, and I don't really feel like—"

"Ben, you really should come with us," Rey interjected, standing and heading toward her room. "It'll be fun. You can work on your tan."

That was all it took to win him over. "Okay. I guess I'll go."

Rey disappeared down the hallway as Finn and Poe stared at Ben.

"Really? _That_ was all it took? I should have done that ages ago!" Poe said, shaking his head in bewilderment.

"I wonder if I can ask her to make him do my laundry next week…" Finn mused aloud as he closed the door to his room.

Ben rolled his eyes as he sauntered down the hall to his bedroom.

_SW_

"This was a mistake," Ben muttered, staring out his window at the small green house they had pulled up in front of. It looked nonthreatening at first glance, but blasting bass music could be heard from the street. "Someone's gonna call the cops."

"No one's gonna call the cops," Poe assured him, getting out of the car. "Including you, Finn. I don't want you to bust the party just so you can go home."

Finn slid his phone back into his pocket, a sheepish smile forming.

Rey sprang up out of the car and surveyed the house. "It's cute!" she cooed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "It looks like something from a storybook, with all the flowers and the red shutters." She gestured vaguely at the building, at the terracotta pots bursting with chrysanthemums and daisies, at the vines snaking across the exterior of the cottage.

"A book about hell?" Ben questioned as they headed to the side of the house, unlatched the gate, and went into the backyard.

She shoved him onto the patio as they headed over to the coolers to get a drink. Finn and Poe went over to talk to Jess and her roommate, Snap Wexley. There were a few people that Rey recognized from her classes or just around campus, but no one she felt comfortable going up and talking to, so she wandered over toward the blazing bonfire in the center of the yard with Ben at her side.

"So, is there anyone you know here?" Rey asked, sipping from her can of raspberry lemonade. She was the designated driver for tonight (and every other night, it seemed) and she took her duties very seriously.

He swallowed a gulp of lime-flavored sparkling water—he wasn't big on drinking—and scanned the small area. "No I don't think so—" he abruptly turned the other way, grabbing Rey's arm and quickly walking over to another spot, away from the fire. "Oh, God, I hope they didn't see us."

"What was that?" Rey rubbed her arm and glanced around. "Who didn't see us?"

"Well, well, _well_. Look who we have here," a cold, thin voice sneered. The couple spun around to face a short, red-haired man and a bleach-blonde haired woman who towered a solid six inches above Ben. "If it isn't _Ben Solo_."

Ben bristled, taking Rey's arm again. "Fancy running into you here, Hux," he replied, his voice high-pitched and jagged. "We were just leaving." He started to move away, but the tall woman stepped in front of them.

"Oh, but don't you want to introduce us?" she asked, a wide smile crossing her face. It looked out of place. It looked sinister. Rey's skin crawled with gooseflesh as the woman placed a hand on her shoulder. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Rey," she answered, her firm and no-nonsense expression looking braver than she felt. "And if you would kindly move out of our way—"

"I'm Phasma," the woman interrupted, taking her hand from Rey's shoulder and wiping it on the hem of her gray sundress, as if she were wiping off dirt. She turned to Hux, a mischievous glint in her eye. "Hux, did she just say her name was _Rey_?"

Hux seemed to be deep in thought before he answered. "Oh, yes, Rey. I remember that name. Isn't she, if I remember your words correctly, _Ben_ , the _bitch_ who knocked into you like an _idiot_ and made you lose the order of your thesis, which caused Professor Snoke to assign you extra work for two weeks?" he spat the words with a smug grin. "Oh, boy, oh, boy. Do I remember."

"Get out of my way, Phasma." Ben's tone was cold.

"Ben, please, let me," Rey interjected, patting him on the shoulder. She turned to the two, a diplomatic smile gracing her features. "Yes, I do think Ben has mentioned you two before. Phasma, the over-preforming, underwhelming teacher's pet with a real fragile ego and a superiority complex. And Hux, the smug, pretentious prick with daddy issues." The calm smile never left her face. "I remember now."

Indignation painted their faces almost comically. Phasma snatched Hux' hand and the two marched away, huffing and scoffing in disbelief.

"Care to explain what just happened?" Rey downed her drink and tossed it into a recycling bin. "Are there going to be anymore ego-fests I'll have to break up?"

"No, I don't think so," Ben shook his head, incredulous. "How did you know all that?" he asked her as they strolled over toward their friends. "I don't think I've ever really spoken about them before now."

She shrugged, slipping her hand into his as they approached Finn and Poe. "Just a hunch. They had that look about them." She covered her mouth as she giggled.

"What? What is it?" he nudged her as she continued to laugh.

"Nothing, nothing," she waved him away, her laughter dissipating. "I'm just trying to figure it out—did you used to actually be _friends_ with them?"

Ben exhaled heavily, kicking at the grass with the toe of his boot. "Uh, yeah, they were my roommates for my first two years before I moved in with you guys," he paused to scratch his head, his eyes looking everywhere but at her. "I guess I was a real loser back then, huh?"

She knocked her shoulder into him as they sat down on a bench, close to the fire. "You're still a loser," she grinned. "Now you're just a loser with better friends."

"Hmm. Thanks." He rolled his eyes, turning serious again as he locked gazes with her. "I really didn't mean it, you know. About calling you a bitch and everything. I mean, I meant it at the _time_ , but now that I know you—" his eyelashes fluttered as he shifted his eyes to the ground. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Rey murmured, leaning her head on his shoulder. "I called you things a million times worse than that after you ran into me in the hall that day."

He lifted his gaze. "Wait, what?" his brow crinkled. "Um, _you_ totally plowed into _me_."

"Uh, yeah, no. Well, maybe, but what person just stands in the middle of the hallway?"

"I'm six feet tall! How did you not see me?"

"I was reading my schedule!"

"How about you look up every now and then!"

Poe glanced over at the two arguing and then back at Finn. "They fight like an old married couple, and they're not even dating yet."

"Get used to it, pal," his friend agreed as they clinked their cans together in a toast. "We're in this for the long run."

"Cheers to that."

 **A/N: okay so basically I got my nails done and IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO TYPE WITH ACRYLICS ON I AM STRUGGLING I HAVE SUCH A HAND CRAMP**

 **Anyway, as I write this is the pad of my finger, hope you enjoyed!**


	10. Chapter 10: Highway To Heaven

"On the road again…" Poe's off-key rendition of the iconic Willie Nelson song was endearing the first time, cute the second, and infuriating by the eighth.

It was spring break, and Poe, Finn, Rey, and Ben were hitting the highway on their way to Poe's parent's beach house, which they had oh-so-graciously lent to the four roommates for the week.

They sat in their regular seats in their friend's 1965 Mustang, Finn riding shotgun with Rey and Ben in the back. Their duffle bags heaped in towers around them, all wedged precariously in place. Wrappers from fast food joints littered the floor of the car. Finn had had the good sense to wear headphones and pick his own music, whereas his two friends were stuck listening to Poe's terrible singing.

Rey had her nose buried in a dog-eared copy of _The Da Vinci Code_ , lying sideways on the cab seat, her head resting on Ben's lap. Her knees were curled into her chest, and she sipped from a travel mug filled with earl grey as she read.

"When do you think we'll get there?" he whispered, glancing down at her, fiddling with a piece of string in his hand as he tried to perfect his cat's cradle.

"Hopefully before our ears start bleeding," she replied, a smile playing at her lips. "I mean, I love him to death, but I'm going to kill him."

Ben turned back to his project, shrugging. "If you don't, I will."

They rode in relative silence for nearly another hour and a half, before a loud POP sounded and Poe veered wildly to the left. Rey lurched forward, almost falling to the floor. Ben swore, and hooked an arm under her elbow to haul her up.

"What happened?" Finn exclaimed, yanking his earbuds out, staring at the driver in disbelief as they pulled onto the shoulder of the road and slowed to a stop.

"I think we blew a flat," Poe muttered through gritted teeth, his cheeks flushed an angry crimson. "These tires had t a freakin' two-year, 20,000 mile guarantee."

"Does that cover shrapnel as well?" Ben inquired, peering out the window at the road behind them. "Because it looks like there's a bunch of glass and metal pieces back there. We must have gone right over them."

Poe's griping could scarcely be heard over the howling wind of the highway as he shoved his door open and stomped toward the rear of the car. He threw the hatch open and tossed the bags and pillows from the trunk onto the pavement. Rey and Ben squinted at him, irritated at his lack of consideration, and clambered out to help him. Together, they peeled back the carpet at the bottom and Rey lifted out the jack and lug wrench while Poe and Ben grabbed the tire.

"Freaking piece of freaking sh—" the whine of a car engine as it passed by drowned out the rest of his words.

The two boys hobbled over to the front of the car, the weight of the tire awkwardly distributed between them. They leaned it up against the passenger side door, and then glanced at each uneasily.

"What?" Rey asked as she knelt, popping the hubcaps off and beginning to loosen the lugnuts. She paused as she sensed their discomfort. "Guys, what's wrong?"

"Well…" Ben shifted from foot to foot, opting to look at the passing cars rather than meet Rey's eyes. "We've never exactly, uh, you know, changed a tire before."

Her jaw dropped, and she snapped it shut as the wind blew dust into her mouth. "You're kidding." She stared at them incredulously. "Wait, actually? You've never changed a—not even you, Poe?" as he shook his head and avoided her gaze, she scoffed and went back to her work, shaking her head. "You guys are twenty-two, nearly finished with college, and you seriously don't know how to do it." She sighed in resignation. "Please tell me you at least have your flashers on right now." She added, sliding the jack under the car and cranking the handle to raise the tire off the ground.

Poe ducked away sheepishly and returned to his seat in the car. A moment later, his hazard lights blinked to life.

"Unbelievable." She mumbled, rolling her eyes. After raising the front edge of the car about seven inches off the ground, she finished removing the lugnuts and eased the flat tire off of the bolts, setting it on its side on the ground beside her. Ben crouched next to her, watching intently as she spoke. "So basically, after you've removed the hubcaps, you loosen the nuts, and then jack it up off the ground. And then you take the tire off, put the good one on, tighten the lugnuts a little, lower the jack a bit, finish screwing in the bolts, and then put the car all the way back down." She worked as she talked, and upon completion, she turned to him with a triumphant smile. "See? Easy as pie."

He huffed and helped her return the flat and the jack into their slot in the trunk. "This is why you're the mechanical engineer, and I am not." He threw the suitcases and bedding back into the car, and then slammed the trunk closed.

She reached up and patted his cheek with a grin. "You done good. Or at least, better than Poe. You stayed out here with me."

"Yeah, that's about all I'm good for," he added, rolling his eyes, the tips of his nose and ears blushing pink.

Rey received high-fives from her other roommates as they returned to the car. As they peeled off to join the rest of traffic, Poe called over his shoulder, "Hey, thanks for that. I owe you one."

"Yeah, well," she said airily, a smirk crossing her features. "I'll keep that in mind when we're at the boardwalk with a thousand and one different food trucks."

Poe gulped loudly, and visibly paled. He turned to look at Finn, who wore a pitying smile. "I've made a mistake, haven't I?"

"Hell yeah," his roommates chorused in unison.

 **A/N: depression's a BITCH, I say, as someone who has had it for years and is completely used to its effects. Yeah so hopefully that was a good ol' chapter to tide y'all over for a bit love you lots and honestly guys thank you so much for being patient and sticking with this fic because if I'm being real, if I were a reader I'd have ditched this story months ago**

 **Anyway I rlly appreciate the reads and reviews and you guys are just the best okay gotta go bye :D**


	11. Chapter 11: Spring Break pt1

The beach.

What a wonderful, beautiful place. The sun shining, warming the sand, the ocean sparkling in brilliant hues of blue and white, a soft, gentle breeze floating across, the tall grasses swaying to the song of nature—

"Kowabunga!" Finn hollered, sprinting across the beach toward the water, his towel contorting wildly in the wind as he tossed it away and entered the sea. "Aw, this is the life!" he declared, floating on his back, small frothy waves crashing over him.

They had arrived at Poe's childhood beach house—rather idyllic, sun-bleached white and blue stripes, vibrant flower gardens in the front—the night before around one in the morning, and had promptly gone to sleep in their designated rooms. (Poe and Ben in the master bedroom, and Finn and Rey in Poe's old room.) Upon waking up, however, they had slipped into swimsuits and headed for the private section of the beach that his parents owned.

"Ooh, hot sand, hot sand," Rey cringed as she dashed from the grass to the bright green picnic blanket Poe had set out for them under a huge striped umbrella. She grabbed an ice-cold ginger ale from the cooler and relaxed, sliding her huge sunnies from the top of her head onto her face. She used a balled-up towel as a pillow and cracked open her book.

"Look, a hermit crab!" Poe called, further down the shore, at the water's edge. He held up a small red crab with a speckled ivory shell, a look of triumph on his face. He crouched down and sifted through the hand, before sticking his hand up again in victory. "I found another one!"

"I still can't believe you guys made me do this," Ben muttered, plopping down under the shade of the umbrella. He wore black swim trunks and a black t-shirt, his hair tousled and messy from the wind. He held a bottle of sunscreen in one hand and Markus Zusak's _Book Thief_ in the other. "You know," he began, slathering the lotion across his arms, legs, neck, and face, "prolonged sun exposure is one of the leading causes of skin cancer in young adults."

Rey yanked her sunglasses off with a huff of exasperation and peered at him, her freckles darker and more prominent from her time in the sun. "Ben, I love you, but _I do not care_. I wanna get tan and have my freckles more apparent. If I get skin cancer, so be it." She slipped her shades back on and took a sip of her drink.

He stared at her in disbelief. "You're kidding, right?" In response, she shifted so her bikini-clad body got even more direct sunlight. He crawled over to her as she hummed quietly, pretending to be absorbed in her book. "Rey, I'm serious." As she continued to ignore him, he placed himself at eye level, his face right above hers, glaring as sternly as he could, concern softening the edges of his gaze. "C'mon, are you even listening to me?"

She lowered her book to acknowledge his presence, biting her lip as she looked him up and down. "Take off your shirt." She ordered him abruptly, brow arched, a grin tugging at her mouth.

"What?" he recoiled slightly in shock.

"I mean it, Ben," she struggled to keep her face serious but failed, breaking out into a smile. "No one wears a shirt to the beach. Get some sun—not too much, though. Don't wanna expose too much flesh to the UV rays."

He screwed up his face in thought and mild annoyance. "If I take off my shirt, will you put on some sunscreen?"

Her smile widened. "It's a win-win,"

"Yeah, whatever," Ben rolled his eyes as he leaned back onto the blanket and pulled his shirt over his head, feeling Rey's eyes on him the whole time. Maybe he should have felt embarrassed, but he didn't. He had worked long and hard for the body he had now, and he didn't mind the blatant attention he was receiving. He tossed his shirt to the side and smirked as she quickly averted her gaze.

"Jeez, I didn't know you were freaking _chiseled_ ," she grunted, her voice thick and breathless, her cheeks bright red. She cleared her throat as she held out her hand toward him. "Deal's a deal. Sunscreen please." She accepted the bottle he handed to her and squirted a dollop into her hand, working it onto her arms, shoulders, and legs. She couldn't help stealing glances at him as he settled back into the blanket to read his novel. She vaguely remembered Poe mentioning that Ben worked out almost religiously, but she had never actively thought about what his body might look like under the baggy black shirts he always wore. Now, though, it seemed that she couldn't stop staring at him.

Poe and Finn approached, both soaking wet, each holding something in their hand. The latter knelt beside Rey on the sand, and held his open palm out to her. "I found seashells," he announced excitedly, almost like a little kid. "And I got this one for you, _Rey of sunshine_ ," he added, handing her a bright yellow scalloped shell.

"Aw, Finn!" she cried, holding the small shell in her hand. "That's so stinking cute!"

"Yeah, well," Poe interjected, holding a plastic baggy in front of their faces. "I found a jellyfish carcass."

Rey scrunched up her nose but moved closer all the same. "How'd you pick it up and get it in the bag without getting stung?" she inquired, fascination evident in her voice.

"I used the good ol' Dameron charm." He swept a hand through his curls, and at her unamused expression, amended, "I picked it up with a stick."

"Okay, well that's great," Ben piped up, "but I can feel my skin blistering already."

"Ben, you're in complete shade. And no, you're not putting your shirt back on."

Finn did a double-take toward Ben. "Dang, brother. Nice abs."

"I know, right?" Poe and Rey chimed in sync, then stared at each other in pure horror.

Ben sprawled out on the blanket, his hands laced behind his head, a smug smirk on his face. "I guess I'm just that hot. I get the ladies and the men."

In perfect unison, his three friends scooped up a handful of sand and chucked it at him.

 **A/N: aha two updates in a row holla**

 **I figured you guys deserved it, for being so awesome and shit**


	12. Chapter 12: Spring Break pt2

"So," Finn drawled, sinking into the swaying hammock in the corner of the room he and Rey shared. "tell me about Ben."

Rey, who had been sitting on the bottom bunk of the bed, sipping on iced tea and scrolling through her phone, jerked her head up, inadvertently choking on her drink. She coughed roughly for a few moments, and then cleared her throat, attempting to adopt an indifferent expression. "What about him?" she inquired, voice even, turning back to her phone. Her cheeks blazed bright red.

"That tells me about all I need to know," a smug smile spread across his face. "I knew it. You do like him."

"Shhhh! Keep your voice down!" she hushed him urgently, swatting at him. " _Of course_ I like him. He's my friend." She couldn't meet his eyes.

"Rey." Finn got up and moved to sit with her, taking her hand in his. "Be honest." His eyes shone, concerned and earnest.

"I—" her words caught in her throat, her voice thick. She glanced up at him, tears sparkling in her eyes. A gentle breeze floated in from the open window, causing strands of her hair to swirl up across her face. "I can't. If I do, it'll be real." Rey whispered softly, her gaze directed at the shag carpet beneath them. "I'm scared," she confessed, voice wavering. "that this could actually work. I don't know if I—if I deserve something like this. He's so perfect, and amazing, and sweet and honest. He should have someone better than me." She laughed weakly. "I'm a wreck, Finn. I know I hide it behind layers of confidence and bravado, but I'm really, really messed up. Growing up the way we did, it knocked my sense of self-worth all out of whack. To be so desperate for love, and to be rejected at every turn…" she trailed off, finally raising her head to look at him. "I don't know if I can do that to myself again. Not with him. It would hurt too much."

They sat there together for several long moments, before Finn opened his mouth to speak. "I know I've told you this a thousand times before, but here it is once more: you are infinitely precious." He smiled slightly, gripping her hand tightly as tears slid down the bridge of her nose onto the linen bedspread. "Rey, you are worth more than all the money in the whole damn world, and you deserve to be with someone who knows that. Yes, _deserve_. The people who you wanted to be loved by all your life, they didn't know how to love anyone but themselves. That's not your fault. That's not an indication of how much you're worth." He paused, wondering how angry Ben would be at him after this conversation. He decided he didn't care. "Ben loves you, Rey. I can see it with my own two eyes. Poe can see it. Hell, even Rose asked if you guys were together. And when I say love, I don't mean infatuation, I don't mean lust. He _wants_ you, because he _loves_ you. He wants you to be happy, and I know he would give anything for you."

Rey sniffled, wiped at her nose, and inhaled deeply. "How do you know?" she asked quietly.

"Because he told me." Finn grinned at her shocked expression. "Yeah, girl, we've talked about it. Remember when we were all sick and you walked in on us in his room, and it looked like we had been crying? We had been. After talking about you. And how much he loves you."

"I don't—are you for real?"

"Hell yeah."

She leaped up, swiping at her cheeks to clear away the tears. "Well, then what the heck am I doing in here with you? I have to talk to him!" she dragged a hand through her hair, attempting to smooth it down. "How do I look?"

Finn smiled, shaking his head at his friend's eagerness. "You look beautiful. Ben's out in the sunroom, by the way." She disappeared through the door a moment later. "Go get 'im, girl," he whispered softly, a tear slipping out as he smirked to himself. "It's about damn time."

_SW_

Rey entered the sunroom quietly, the warm, balmy air embracing her immediately. She looked around and saw him, sitting on criss-cross on the salt-washed wood, glasses perched on the edge of his nose, reading a book with a cover so worn the title was no longer legible. She stood there in the doorway for a moment, simply watching him. The sound of crashing waves filtered through the thin walls, along with the brass twinkling of a wind chime. Ocean wind swept across the room, stirring the dust in the air and ruffling Ben's already-unruly hair. Sunshine beamed through the screen windows, casting hazy shadows around the room. For the first time in a long time, Rey felt something akin to peace.

"Ben," she murmured, smiling as he spun around to face her.

"Rey! I didn't see you there! Sorry, otherwise I would have—" he peered more intently at her face, standing and moving toward her. "Have you been crying?"

She scratched at her forehead, looking away sheepishly. "Uh, yeah. A little."

"Is everything alright?" he studied her eyes, searching for something that would reveal her thoughts. "Are you hurt or anything?" he placed a hand on her shoulder, rubbing small circles across her skin.

Rey nodded, unable to tear her gaze from his beautiful amber-colored eyes. "I just figured something out that I've been ignoring for a while. Something that actually makes a little sense for the first time."

"And that is?" he questioned, a slight smile quirking up the corner of his mouth. He stiffened in surprise as she took a step forward and closed her arms around him tightly, holding him close. He relaxed and hugged her back, wondering what on earth was happening, but enjoying it nonetheless.

She took a deep breath, and asked, "Can I be honest?" She pulled back a little so she could look at his face.

"Yeah, of course,"

Rey paused, gathering up courage to speak. "I think—" she searched his eyes, and saw concern, worry, confusion, and something that made her heart swell. "I think I love you," she blurted, her cheeks flushing bright red. "and I was kind of hoping you felt the same way."

Ben stared at her, his jaw slack, his mind struggling to process her words. "Actually?" as she nodded, he felt as if his face might split in half, he was smiling so wide. "Rey, in case you haven't noticed, I've been in love with you for the past year and a half."

"Really?" her nose scrunched up as she beamed brightly at him. "Huh. Fancy that."

He rolled his eyes as he picked her up and swung her around, her laughter joining in with his. He set her down after a moment, still holding her close. His eyes flicked up to meet hers, and he felt his face turn red. "Can I kiss you?"

A grin played at her lips. "I thought you'd never ask." She moved closer, and pressed her mouth to his.

Rey didn't believe in magic, not until that moment. The air smelled of salt water and he smelled like mint and it all mingled together and she wished she could bottle up the scent to remember this for years. His arms slid around her waist, keeping her close. She felt him smile against her lips. She felt like she was floating.

They broke apart after a moment, breathless, their faces flushed and their eyes bright. "That was.." he began, trailing off, still staring at her.

"Yeah," she agreed, giggling, a hand covering her mouth. She rested her forehead against his chest. She listened to his heartbeat as they swayed in place, loving the feeling of his arms wrapped around her.

"I'm glad you finally came to your senses," Ben remarked, tilting his chin to look at her. "Took you long enough."

Rey scoffed and rolled her eyes, glaring back at him. "Oh, shut up." she kissed him again, a smirk spreading across her face. "I'm glad I finally got my act together, though. Kissing you is a lot of fun."

"Oh, that's it, huh? That's the only reason you're here? I knew it!" he reached down and tickled the sides of her stomach.

She squealed and retaliated, knocking him down to the floor and tickling him back. "Concede!" she shouted as she ran her hands across his sides.

"Fine, fine! I give up!" he held his hands out in surrender. He couldn't help but stare at her, with her frizzy hair and flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes. "I love you."

"I know."


	13. Chapter 13: Spring Break pt3

Rey woke with the sunrise, savoring the sound of crashing waves and the songs of the birds as they started their days. Yellow light bathed the room as it streamed through the slats in the blinds, casting stripes across her blanket. She slid out of the hammock where she had fallen asleep the night before, wincing as her book slipped from it spot under her pillow and crashed rather noisily onto the hardwood floor. She glanced up to see if Finn had woken, but he snored on.

Once in the bathroom, she tied her hair back into a bun and changed into her swimming suit, a golden one-piece with white daisies. Throwing on a knit ivory shawl and floppy sunhat, she glided out the door as quietly as possible, granola bar in one hand, book and towel in another. Cool winds blew across the beach, stirring the sand and wild grasses that grew around it. Rey spread her towel out in a patch on sunlight, and settled in to watch the world wake up.

_SW_

Ben shuffled into the kitchen around eight, scratching his head and yawning as he peered out the window toward the beach. White froth swirled around the tops of the waves as they crested, sparkling in the brilliant sunshine. Fluffy white clouds drifted across the sky, occasionally blotting out the light before moving along. He spotted a figure clad in a yellow suit lounging on the sand, poring over a book. "What a nerd," he scoffed, rolling his eyes before returning to his room to get changed. He emerged several minutes later wearing a t-shirt and swim trunks. "Good thing that's my nerd."

He walked out the door, towel slung over his shoulder, listening to wind through the leaves of the trees surrounding the little house. He caught himself staring as he approached, entranced by the very sight of her. Tendrils of dark hair whipped around in the ocean breeze and freckles stood out against the tanned canvas of her face. Her suit practically glowed in the sunlight, casting a golden haze across her arms and hands. Nose buried in book, she didn't noticed him until he stood in front of her, blocking out the sun.

"What the—" Rey raised her head and squinted at him in confusion, breaking into a smile as soon as she recognized him. "Hi."

"Hi." He tossed his towel on the ground beside her and began to smooth it out. "Is it okay if I sit with you?"

Smirking, she folded the corner of her page and closed the book. "Aren't you worried about getting a sunburn?" As he gave a noncommittal grunt, a mischievous grin spread across her lips. "Actually, I was thinking of going swimming. Wanna join me?" Without waiting for a response, she rose and plodded across the sand to the water. A moment later, he was by her side.

"I don't know why people love the ocean so much," Ben began as they waded out, waves trying to push them back to shore. "I mean, yeah, it's pretty, but it's every sea creatures' toilet."

"You are so strange," Rey studied him, brow raised. "You know what will help? This!" She dove forward and tackled him, pushing him down into the water. A moment later, he came back up, sputtering indignantly.

"What is wrong with you?" he brushed his hair out of his eyes, trying to glare at her and failing.

Rey floated past him on her back, her arms moving gracefully as she propelled herself along. She smiled innocently as she drifted past him. "Oh, no. Would you look at that. Your shirt is soaked." She feigned concern, bringing up a hand to cover her mouth in pretend shock. An impish grin replaced her formerly angelic expression. "I guess you'll just have to take it off."

"You planned this, didn't you?" Ben shook his head as he peeled his shirt off, flinging it at the sand. It landed with a solid, wet _thwack_. He turned to her, almost glistening in the sunlight. "Better?"

She stood and moved closer, humming her appreciation. " _Much_ better." She placed a hand on his cheek, watching his whiskey eyes as they flitted across her face. A blush crossed her face as she caught him glance at her lips for a long moment. She pulled away, _tsk_ ing. "You are a naughty boy, Solo."

He reached out and caught her wrist, bringing her back to him. "You started it," he murmured into her ear, and she felt goosebumps rise across her arms. Rey leaned closer, drawn to his warmth, as he pushed an arm out and shoved her backwards into the water.

"You ass!" she yelped, grabbing onto his extended hand to haul herself back up. She jabbed a finger into his chest. "We're even now."

"Are we?" he cocked his head, and she felt her anger melt away.

"Damn you," she muttered and looked away, heat creeping across her face.

Ben brushed a strand of hair away from her mouth, and gazed intently at her. Eyes of topaz brown connected with her golden sunbeams and he felt something blossom in his heart, warm and light. He whispered, "In case you forgot, I love you."

"How could I?" she murmured, swaying slightly as the waves flowed around them. "I see it on your face every time I look at you."

They stood together in the sea, holding each other, the wind spiraling about, the music of moving water lulling them to a state of peace.

From inside the house, Poe and Finn stood by the window, studying their friends.

"Honestly, how did it take them so long to realize that they were perfect for each other?" Poe turned to his roommate as he sipped at his mug of tea.

Finn shrugged, munching on an everything bagel and picking at peeling paint on the windowsill. "I don't know, but I'm glad they finally did."

 **A/N: here we have another peep of thirsty Rey. But honestly can we blame her? No one can resist Ben Swolo**


	14. Chapter 14:Car of Lies

Ben remembered why he hated sand so much when he was packing up to head home and he had to shake out every item of clothing he owned.

"Ready to go?" Rey asked in a sing-song voice as she waltzed into his bedroom, towing her stuffed suitcase behind her. She stopped in her tracks as she caught sight of the absolute mess. Shirts and shorts had been tossed all over the place, everywhere from the bed to on top of the lampshade. Crumpled chip bags lay scattered across the floor, along with crushed soda cans and dirty napkins. "You guys are disgusting." With a curled lip, she spun and left, her luggage rolling alongside.

"It was all Poe!" He called after her, folding his damp swimsuit and tucking it away in his bag. "He's the pig here, not me!" he sighed, defeated, and continued to gather up his belongings.

Rey's cheery voice could be heard even as she stood in the kitchen, talking with Finn, helping him with the dishes. Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass. Ben went to investigate and found the two staring at each other in open-mouthed shock. A moment passed before the accusations started flying back and forth.

"Dude! I can't believe you did that! What if that was Mrs. Dameron's favorite mug!"

"What? Me? That was _so_ not my fault. It was totally in your hand! You dropped it!"

Rey touched a hand to her chest, a baffled expression crossing her features. "Excuse me? I hadn't even touched it by the time it slipped out of your hand and fell."

"Bull. Also because you dropped it, you have to clean it up."

Ben placed a hand between them before they erupted into a full-scale argument. "Guys! Chill! It doesn't matter who dropped it. I'll clean it up so you can finish the rest of the dishes." He reached into the cabinet below the sink and retrieved a small dust pan and hand broom. "and Mrs. D's favorite mug is the blue and white one. You dorks managed to break the yellow and green one. MR. D's favorite."

Finn and Rey exchanged panicked glances. "Shit."

_SW_

"Well, we're all packed and ready to go," Poe grunted, heaving the last suitcase into the trunk of his car, pressing down with all his might to wedge it into place. "Goodbye, beautiful beach with beautiful girls," he called out wistfully, blowing a kiss in the direction of the ocean, which earned him an elbow jab from Rey. "Jeez! What was that for?"

"It was for being shallow," she rolled her eyes as she crawled into her seat in the back. "You'll thank me one day. When you're older."

"Yeah, when I'm older and have deformed ribs because of you," he muttered, sliding into his spot behind the wheel.

After a short discussion of when and where to stop for their lunch, dinner, and bathroom breaks, they pulled out of the winding driveway and got out on the open road.

Some two hours later, just as Rey had finally found the perfect sleeping position, the car began to make a strange whining noise, followed by a clank, and then a muffled _bang_. Alarmed, Poe quickly flipped his right blinker and pulled off to the shoulder of the highway.

"What in the hell…" He grumbled as he flung his seatbelt off and shoved his door open. He moved to the front of the car and popped the hood, a cloud of smoke billowing directly into his face.

Finn and Ben shared a look, and then turned to Rey. "I don't think he knows what he's doing. You should go help him."

Rey rolled her eyes and groaned, crawling from her spot in the backseat and blinking as her tired eyes met the bright sunlight. She trudged to the front of the car, where Poe was still wheezing and trying to catch his breath. Ignoring him, she waved a hand to disperse the smoke and peered under the hood, crinkling her brow in confusion. "Um, Poe," she began, scanning the engine and various tubes and hoses connected to it. "what type of car do you have again?"

"A 1965 Mustang," He replied, coughing, his eyes watery. "Why do you ask?"

She shrugged and glanced over her shoulder. "Because this is an engine designed for a 2004 Honda Civic. And the radiator is on the wrong side. And that fan is upside down. And… is the AC routed through the same hose as the heat? That would explain why it's hot as hell in the backseat at all times."

"What? There's no way!" Poe protested, stomping up to see for himself. His self-assured expression disappeared as he saw 'Honda' clearly emblazoned across the top of the engine. "Um. Is there an engineering explanation for this?"

Rey continued to poke around, surprised that the metal wasn't even hot. "Have you never looked under the hood? This car is like a damn rummage sale!" she exclaimed, reaching as far as she could. "Where on earth did you find this thing?"

"Uh… you know, it's been a while since I bought it. I don't remember." He glanced away from Rey's you're-really-gonna-try-to-bullshit-your-way-out-of-this look and relented. "Okay. I bought it online…from Russia."

"Poor, gullible Poe. You may have paid for a Mustang 1965, but you've been driving everything BUT. The exterior isn't even accurate. And 65's don't have backseats!" Rey wiped the grime from her hands on her jacket and shook her head sympathetically at her friend. "I'm afraid you've been swindled, my dude."

Poe stared at the ground, running a hand through his hair and kicking at the loose gravel. He looked up, licking his lip in anticipation. "So, what does that mean? For my car? For me?"

"Well, for right now, it means you'll have to call a tow. And an Uber. And then go car shopping. At an actual lot. Where you can see and drive the cars before buying them." She couldn't help but laugh at her friend's predicament. "You bought a car online? From _Russia_?"

Poe gathered a handful of pebbles and chucked them at her, not caring as they pelted the bright red paint of his imposter Mustang.


	15. Chapter 15: Road to Happiness

"What a great day." Poe deadpanned, collapsing on the couch in their house, watching with tired eyes as his roommates filed through the front door, each carrying a towering pile of luggage and bedding. He turned away and clutched a throw pillow, releasing a heavy sigh.

Rey dumped her armload on the ground and sat beside him, patting his shoulder. "Aw, Poe, it's gonna be okay! We just have to roll with the punches, right? We can stop by a couple dealerships tomorrow morning and see what they have." She paused, and after a moment of thought, added, "I'll look for myself, too. It's about time I got my own car, anyway. I'm twenty-two years old and I treat my best friend like my personal driver. Kill two birds with one stone, yeah?"

"So _optimistic_ ," Poe sneered, running a hand through his dark curls. "How do you do it?" Without waiting for an answer, he stood and stomped across the carpet to his room, slamming the door shut behind him. Rey visibly deflated, her shoulders, rolling inward, disappointed that her efforts to cheer him up had failed.

Ben edged through the maze of bags and pillows scattered across the living room floor, wrapping an arm around Rey. "Don't worry about 's not mad at you; he's mad at the situation. He'll get over it. He stresses _way_ too easily." He offered a comforting smile and chuckled. "You did your best. You always do."

"It sure seemed like he was mad at me," Rey stood and leaned against his shoulder, feeling frustration seep through her. "I don't like seeing him upset. I wish I could just like, _have_ a car right now to give him." She rubbed at her eyes and yawned, checking the time on her phone. "Well, I gotta get to bed, or I'll be a bitch in the morning. 'Night, guys." She pressed a kiss to Ben's cheek, threw a tired smile toward Finn, and headed down the hallway.

"That kid cares too much sometimes." Finn commented, downing a glass of water from where he stood in the kitchen. He stretched, moaning, before making his way toward his room. "It'll get her in trouble one of these days."

Ben pursed his lips, deep in thought, before following his friend down the hall.

_SW_

 _The sun will rise and we will try again._

Rey smiled as she read the text from Ben. He had sent it at 3:49AM, which made her wonder if he had thought of the quote on the spur of the moment or had stayed up, thinking of an encouraging thing to say to her. Either option made her heart fluttery and warm. She slid out from beneath her cotton comforter, the cool air causing her skin to prick up with goose bumps. Sitting up, she paused for a moment, as she tried to do every morning, to savor the first moments of her day. Dust hung suspended in the air, moving lazily across the expanse, illuminated by the soft beams of sunlight streaming in between the slats of the blinds. A song bird trilled somewhere outside her window, and a car horn honked down the street. Slowly, the sounds of a busy kitchen filtered into her senses, and with a contented sigh, she stood and went to greet her roommates.

To her surprise, Ben shuffled throughout the kitchen alone, stirring batter for vegan pancakes and keeping a close eye on the strawberry compote he was attempting to make as a topping. He hummed quietly to himself as he spooned batter into a sizzling pan and adjusted the heat. His unruly hair stuck up in all directions and light purple circles were all too apparent beneath his eyes. Rey watched him from the doorway as he worked, slightly amazed at how much she loved him. Not in the way of sexual attraction—there was plenty of that, too—but the affection she felt for him, how _whole_ her life felt now that he was an even bigger part of it. Rey still felt foolish at times, when she thought back to how long it had taken her to come to terms with how she felt about him. "Good morning," she murmured softly, taking a step into a kitchen and wrapping her arms around his torso. She pressed her cheek to his back, feeling the warmth of his skin seep through the fabric.

"How are you doing?" He continued with his tasks as he spoke, managing to waddle from place to place as Rey remained latched on to him. He flipped a pancake and stirred the compote while waiting for her answer.

"The sun rose, didn't it?" She sighed and buried her face deeper into his shirt. "It's just so frustrating. I don't know why I care so damn much, but I do and I can't help it. I think—I think that I feel like it's my job to fix everything and make everyone happy and when I can't, I feel like I've failed somehow." She drew a shaky breath, wiping away pesky tears that slipped down her cheeks. "It's exhausting."

Ben turned to face her, gathering her up in his arms with a small smile. "Yeah, damn you and that big ol' heart of yours that's filled with more love than there are stars in the sky." Rey sputtered out a watery chuckle and swatted at his bicep. "Well, I have something that might cheer you up. Other than a _delicious_ breakfast, that is." He untangled himself from their embrace and added more batter to the pan, chattering excitedly as he did. "I didn't sleep much last night, so I texted a bunch of people I used to know, asking if they or anyone they knew had a car they were selling for a decent price. When I woke up this morning, I had four positive answers. I was thinking that maybe after we eat, we could go check out the prospects?" He wrapped up his question by presenting her with a plate heaping with pancakes and strawberries.

"Well, I can't say no, because you're the one feeding me," Rey replied, accepting the plate and grabbing syrup from the cupboard. "Give me five minutes to get dressed and I'll be ready to go."

 **Hello.**

 **Although it may have seemed like it, no, I am not dead. Just really bad at updating.**

 **Next chapter will (hopefully) be up soon!**


	16. Chapter 16: (Car) Lot of opportunities

"This might be harder than we thought."

It was their last stop of the day, Rey stood in the center of a large gravel parking lot, surrounded by a graveyard of gutted cars and trucks, their rusting skeletons sprouting weeds and acting as homes for several different types of wildlife. As she spoke, a horde of chipmunks scrambled out from the underbelly of an emaciated Chevy Trailblazer. The first three prospects were a no-go for various reasons: the first, belonging to one of Ben's friends from high school, had no seats. At all. They were just gone. The second was Ben's old neighbor, a sweet old lady who was always yelling so she could hear herself and make sure she was talking, and the car reeked of cigarette smoke and mothballs, along with the uncanny stench of rotting meat. The third visit was to his girlfriend from ninth grade, who was "still in love with him" and "didn't have a car to sell but was so happy he had messaged her that she said yes anyway". Needless to say, they didn't stick around long. Rey was starting to feel the disappointment weighing on her shoulders, and sighed heavily, her breath materializing as a little cloud.

Ben knocked his shoulder into hers, casting an easy smile towards her. "Open mind, right?" As he turned away, he wrapped his coat around his body tighter to ward off the blustery wind that swept past. "If we don't freeze out here first, that is." He glanced up toward the sky, squinting at the pale clouds and gray sunlight. _He should be here any minute now..._

As if on cue, a guttural moan from the far side of the lot drew their attention. Rey nearly fell over when she caught sight of the man they came here to meet.

The tallest, hairiest man she had ever seen was loping toward them at surprising fast pace, given the streaks of gray coloring the caramel hue of his long beard and ponytail. He was dressed in a brown bomber jacket and brown pants with a bandolier with small silver orbs slung across his chest. He started waving his arms, also covered in thick, curly hair, and contorting his hands, making strange grunting noises. Rey was taken aback for a moment, startled and confused, before Ben starting mimicking the man, only less rushed and more concise.

 _Sign language._

"Rey, this is my Uncle Chewie," Ben introduced the two of them to each other, speaking for one, signing for the other. "He's been deaf ever since a group of rebels attacked his schoolhouse in Uganda when he was three years old. A gun was fired right next to him and it blew his eardrums to hell. He never learned how to talk properly, so the grunting is another way to communicate. I grew up with him, so trust me, I understand most of what he says." He signed something to his uncle, and Chewie chortled and signed back. "He says you're cute," Ben informed her with a grin.

"How do I say thank you?" He demonstrated and Rey repeated him, raising a flat palm to her mouth and then lowering it to she held her arm out in front of her, elbow tucked at her side.

Ben rapidly translated his reply: _You're welcome._

_SW_

They moved on from the graveyard toward another lot behind the large farmhouse and barn/garage Chewie owned and ran his mechanic shop from. A diverse assortment of vehicles were parked in a neat line, in models ranging from a mint-green VW Bug to a creamsicle Ford F-100.

Ben and Chewie were signing back and forth, engaged in a conversation about the cars, and Ben took the liberty of narrating.

 _What's your friend looking for?_

 _Something simple, maybe vintage._

 _Anything older than me is considered vintage, right?_

Ben chuckled and moved to the row of cars, tossing a casual once-over for each on before moving on, signaling his opinion as he went.

 _Too small_ , about the Bug.

 _Maybe, if he were a high school dropout_ , about a Grand Prix.

 _Soccer mom car_ , about a Dodge Minivan.

 _Lots of character_ , about the F-100.

"Now this!" He exclaimed, holding out his hands, before remembering to sign to his uncle, "This is a car I wouldn't mind him driving around in!" He ran his fingertips over the sleek crimson hood of a sedan with thick black stripes lining the sides. A 1973 Plymouth Roadrunner in almost pristine condition, the leather cab seat reupholstered with gleaming black leather. "It's a stick, and just the front seats, but I think he'll survive." Ben circled the car, popping open the hood and taking a peek inside. He motioned for Rey and Chewie to join him. Ben listened to her appraisal of the engine, battery, and, to him, a whole bunch of other car-stuff.

 _I've been trying to get rid of this for months_ , Chewie signed with a grin. _It's yours for nine._

"Nine thousand? That'll be hard to swing," Ben said, his mouth in a grim line. A confident nod from Rey sealed the deal.

 _We'll take it._

_SW_

Poe was still moping around the house when they returned some time later. A heavy rain roared outside the windows of the little cottage, and Finn had attempted to build up a flame in the fireplace, but had only succeeded in filling the living room with smoke. Rey came through the front door, immediately coughing as the hazy air entered her lungs.

"Jeez!" Ben muttered, moving past her, waving his hands to clear the air. "You guys trying to burn the whole damn house down?" he crossed the room in four long strides and popped open a window, the pitter-patter of rain on the windowsill seeming to echo throughout the otherwise silent space.

Rey glanced around the room, her eyes darting from Poe, slouched on the loveseat, wrapped in a crocheted blanket, to Finn, placing a box of matches back in a kitchen drawer, to Ben, who cast her a helpless look. "That's it," She announced, marching over and yanking Poe from his seat. "Stop being a baby and look out the front window."

It was almost comical, how Poe dropped both his blanket and his jaw at the exact same time, as he peered out the window and spotted the bright red car through the mist. "No way!" He turned to his friends, his expression that of complete disbelief. "Is that a '73 Plymouth?" Rey and Ben nodded in sync, and Poe let out a giddy laugh. "No way that car is for me!"

"Well, it is, for a quarter of nine thousand dollars," Rey answered, sinking into the couch with a contented sigh. "That's the down payment."

Poe covered his mouth and chuckled, still gazing out at the vehicle. "You guys are the best."

"I know," Finn replied, wrapping an arm around his friend.

Ben and Rey both reacted with indignation. "You had nothing to do with getting the car!" Rey snapped, half-serious, her arms crossed.

"No," Finn fired back, turning to face her, "but I had to take care of this dumbass while you guys were gone all day."

Poe shoved him away with a scoff, but Ben grinned. "Fair point."

:-}


	17. Chapter 17: Christmas Surprise

To say Rey was as bad as a little kid on Christmas morning was an understatement.

Take the craziest Santa-obsessed six-year-old in the world, and multiply it by ten.

She was ready to roll at seven A.M, dressed in a God-awful reindeer onesie, and woke up the rest of her roommates by blasting holiday music over the speaker. To be fair, she had steaming hot waffles ready for them when they came out of their room to complain about the noise, as well as mugs brimming with peppermint-flavored coffee.

Their small house looked like something out of a Hallmark movie. A real tree, nearly ten feet tall, wrapped in golden lights, dotted with glittery ornaments and silver tinsel, and topped with star. The tree skirt, though now hidden beneath piles of gifts, was a deep forest green color with golden swirls sweeping across the fabric. Christmas-themed décor idled on every available surface, ranging from novelty snowmen to creepily intense nutcrackers. Red and green blankets were placed on each couch, as well as reindeer-centric throw pillows.

The exterior of the house was a light show in its own respect, with twinkling icicle lights strung on the gutter and multi-colored lights on the railing and wrapped around the birch tree in their front yard. A glowing Santa and sleigh was stationed in the middle of the front yard, surrounded by a small army of lit-up garden gnomes to act as elves.

Poe thought it was ridiculous, Finn found it endearing, and Ben loved it because Rey loved it.

It was their first Christmas as a couple, and he was terrified he would do something to ruin her favorite holiday. His parents certainly hadn't set the best example on how to act, almost every year ended with the two of them screaming at each other and one—typically his father—storming out into the cold, snowy night. Ben was stuck to figure out what to do on his own.

His roommates had plenty of ideas, as usual, ranging from "Mistletoe in every doorway", to "Take a shot every time Rey makes a Christmas pun."

Ben decided against both, though the first didn't sound too bad.

Instead, he opted for a present scavenger hunt around their house, with each gift being something she had off-handedly remarked about wanting. He knew she would like that sort of thoughtful gesture.

Rey found the first gift when she opened the fridge to make breakfast that morning, cleverly hidden behind the orange juice jug. It was a medium-sized package, the shape of a small notebook, with her name written on it in scribbled script. She opened it to reveal a tin of watercolor pencils, something she had spotted at a bookstore several months before. A goofy grin spread across her face, and she set about getting the ingredients for waffles.

_SW_

By midday, Rey had located most of her presents, amounting to the pencils, a leather-bound journal, a small scrapbook with pictures of all four of them, and a cellophane sheet filled with pressed flowers.

They ate an early dinner around two pm, opening the rest of their gifts soon after. (Rey found another three of her gifts, concealed in a kitchen cabinet, the bathroom vanity drawer, and under her pillow—an embroidery kit, a coffee mug with watercolor succulents painted on it, and a small book of encouraging phrases.)

Poe received a set of pots and pans from Finn, who constantly nagged him about little cooking he did for the four of them. He also got a salt lamp and essential oil diffuser from Rey, and a pair of tickets to a 1975 concert from Ben.

"I mean, I really appreciate these," Poe said upon opening the envelope that the tickets were sealed in, "but how the hell am I supposed to choose one of you guys to go with me?"

Ben adjusted the fleece blanket around his shoulders and sipped his hot chocolate, looking like the epitome of cozy as the plush couch nearly swallowed him whole. "I wasn't expecting you to take one of use with you. I thought you could invite _you know who_." He raised a brow, and smirked at Poe's blushing face.

"Wait, what?" Rey leaned forward, as if to improve her hearing abilities. "Who is 'you know who'?"

"Yeah, I'd like to know, too." Finn crossed his arms and frowned, looking rather silly wrapped in a penguin-embellished quilt.

Poe's cheeks flamed an even deeper shade of crimson. "It's nothing. Forget it."

"Uh, yeah, if _nothing's_ name was _Jess Pava_ from his Advanced Engineering class." Ben smirked and dodged a wrapping paper ball that was chucked at his head. "They're in _loooove_."

Rey leapt from her seat, nearly knocking over nearby stack of presents. "Oh my gosh, you're kidding! We're partners in the Mechanics course! She never said anything about dating my roommate and best friend!" She paced in front of the couch, practically bouncing with excitement. "Why didn't you tell me? Or Finn? Are you guys, like, serious? You're not gonna move in with her, right? 'Cause that would kinda ruin the great dynamic we have going here."

"Slow down!" Poe released a heavy sigh. "This is why I hadn't told you guys yet. So many questions to answer at one time. We aren't serious in the least, we've only gone on a couple dates. And no, I don't plan on moving in with her, unless you plan on continually bombarding me with questions."

Finn leaned back on the loveseat, shaking his head remorsefully. "I knew something was up when you changed the password on your phone. You've had the same one for the past two and a half years and then out of the blue, you switched it to something else." He perked up slightly after a moment. "Well, at least now you're not the only single one in the family."

Poe rolled his eyes and hurled an empty box at his friend's face. They continued opening presents, with only the occasional jeer about Poe's love life being thrown out.

Finn got several board games and puzzles from Poe, a new laptop shell and dual speakers from Ben, and a gold-plated watch from Rey. She had attached a note reading, 'This isn't nearly as nice as the one I wanted to get you, but that was insanely expensive, and I thought you might like this instead. You always raved about one day having a real gold watch, all your own. I hoped to help you get a little closer to your goal.' He hastily wiped at runaway tears as he scanned the letter, embracing her in a bear hug and noticing she had unshed tears of her own.

Ben had never been the best at opening presents. He didn't have a very good poker face, so he could never hide the fact that he didn't like something. It was always a cause of great anxiety around his birthday and Christmas. He soon found he had no reason to worry, as his friends knew his taste better than he thought. Poe, who had been like a brother to him his whole life, gave him a black leather jacket, with his initials stitched on the innermost pocket. ("I had to add your middle name; otherwise it would have read as B.S, which would have worked, too, I guess.") Finn got him a really nice—really expensive—pair of headphones, as well as an external hard-drive for his computer, because his projects for his Business major took up tons of space on his PC. Rey had timidly handed him a small, thick package, wrapped with a red tulle bow. She bit her lip as he slowly untied the ribbon and peeled back the paper, tensing in anticipation of his reaction.

What he saw behind the glass face of the picture frame completely floored him.

It was an eight-by-six inch hyper-realistic drawing of the two of them, based off a photo from one of their first official dates. They had gone on a hike at a county park on a Saturday afternoon in May, ate lunch, and then stuck around to watch the sun set. The piece showed their two faces, flushed and glistening with sweat, with a dazzling array of orange and red hues behind their heads, almost perfectly mimicking the colors from the sunset that night.

"I started working on it a couple months ago," Rey explained, the words seeming to spill out in response to his silence. "I thought it was a really cool picture and I wanted to recreate it, so I did." She gnawed on a hangnail while waiting for a response. "Is it—I mean, do you like it?"

Ben almost couldn't speak. His throat felt thick, like he wouldn't be able to push the words past his lips and out into the open air. He took a deep breath, trying to keep it together. "Like it?" His voice was weak, and he couldn't help himself; sparkling tears slipped out of his amber eyes. "Rey, I _love_ it. I love _you_. This is the coolest thing I've ever gotten. You must have put so much work into this, I can't even imagine. It's amazing."

"Thanks." Rey was crying, too, her voice thin and breathless as she brushed tears away with the sleeve of her reindeer onesie. "I hoped you would like it."

A retching noise broke into the middle of their little moment. "You guys aren't gonna, like, _kiss_ or something, right?" Poe asked, a disgusted look clear on his face, earning him an elbow jab from Finn. "I mean, I totally support you guys, you're just a little too sappy sometimes."

Rey laughed, still blotting away twinkling tears. "I have no idea what Jess sees in you."

"Me neither, to be honest."

She rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. It was her turn.

Finn gave her a huge book of drawing references, filled with everything from human anatomy to ladybugs, as well as an oversized ivory sweater that, for some reason, made her tear up again. ("It's similar to the one you wore on your very first day on your own, free of the foster system and all that shit. I remember you said that you lost it a year or so ago.") Poe got her a couple of Jane Austen novels and a pack of Micron pens, which were her favorite to draw and write with.

"Okay, there's one last gift from me," Ben announced, standing and moving toward his room. "I had to hide this one super-secret, otherwise you would have found it, as you are the nosiest person I know."

"That's not true! Besides, I stopped looking after gift number seven. You spoil me too much."

Ben _tsked_ as he returned to the living room, one hand behind his back. "Close your eyes."

"What? No, Ben, come on. This is silly." She objected.

Poe laughed aloud. "Says the girl sporting Rudolph's face on almost every inch of her body."

"You have to, or you don't get the gift." Ben smiled as she finally relented, and shot disapproving looks at Poe and Finn as they whispered to each other and chuckled quietly. They both knew what the present was, and he didn't want them to make Rey suspicious with their stifled giggles. He sat beside her on the couch, took a deep breath, and said, "Hold out your hands."

She begrudgingly obliged, her eyes scrunched shut, her nose wrinkled as well.

A moment later, something slightly fuzzy, boxy, and light in weight was placed in the cradle of her two palms. Slowly, half expecting a gag gift, she opened her eyes, and her heart practically exploded.

Nestled in her hands was a velvet ring box, propped open, with a small gold band situated in a slit on the cushion. Awestruck, she gently lifted the ring from its perch, examining it from every angle. It was a glistening gold, with thin vines wrapping around the circumference of the band. She glanced from the ring to Ben, from Ben to the ring. "I can't—I don't—" Words eluded her. She just kept turning it over in her hands, as if she believed it would disappear in a matter of seconds.

"I know we only started dating about a year ago, but I've loved you much longer than that. Even the day when you knocked into me in the hall, the very first day we met, I knew there was something insanely special about the tiny girl who called me an asshole at eight-thirty in the morning. I was an idiot for a really long time and ignored how I felt about you, because I never thought in a million years that you could feel the same way. You have made my life better in every single way. I smile every morning because I know I'll get to see your beautiful face, and be surrounded by the light you radiate. You are my everything." Ben shifted from his spot on the couch to a kneeling position on the floor. Poe started recording on his phone. Rey couldn't speak. Finn was already crying. "Rey, the stunning, sweet, smart-ass light of my life, would you make me the luckiest guy alive and marry me?"

"Yes, yes, a thousand, million times yes!" Rey practically tackled him to the ground in a hug, crushing empty boxes beneath the weight of their bodies. Both were crying, and laughing, mostly crying, as their two best friends clapped and cheered. Ben slipped the ring onto her left finger—"so we don't lose it!"—and the couple was enveloped in an embrace from Finn and Poe.

After several laughter-filled moments wrapped in a tangle of limbs, the first distinguishable sentence was, "I think I sprained my wrist when I jumped into the dog pile." It was Poe who spoke, of course. He managed to hold his cell phone, still recording, in the other hand.

"Great," Rey commented, her face flushed from the excitement, "I definitely wanted to spend Christmas night in a hospital room."

Finn rolled away from the pile and sat up with a grin. "That's the price of having a family, girl. Especially a family as crazy as ours."

Rey grinned and pressed a kiss to Ben's cheek, gazing at him in pure adoration. "Yeah, I know. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world."

 **A/N: wow. what a wild ride this story has been. i didn't plan on ending it here (then again, i never plan out any of my stories), but every attempt i've made to add another chapter has just felt forced and i don't want to put out pieces i'm not at least 86% in love with.**

 **thank you so much to all the people who encouraged me throughout this long-ass process and kept reading and reviewing, making this my most popular story! you guys mean the world to me and i wouldn't be here without you.**


End file.
